
Class _SC^ 
Book >iILSL 



AlPlFlbB-.VOV'fll 
TALES FOR THE PEOPLE* 

AND THEIR CHILDREN. 

The greatest care has been taken in selecting the works of which 
the collection is composed, so that nothing either mediocre in 
talent, or immoral in tendency, is admitted. 

The following are comprised in the series, uniform in size and style* 

MY UNCLE THE CLOCKMAKER. By Mary Howitt. 37 1-2 cts« 
THE SETTLERS IN CANADA ; written for Young People. By 

Capt. Marryat. 2 vols., 75 cents. 
DOMESTIC TALES AND ALLEGORIES. By Hannah More. 

37 1-2 cents. 
RURAL TALES ; portraying Social Life. By Hannah More. 37 1-9 

cents 
THE POPLAR GROVE ; or, Little Harry and his Uncle Benjamin. 

By Mrs. Copley. 37 1-2 cents. 
EARLY FRIENDSHIPS. By Mrs, Copley. 37 1-2 cents, 
THE CROFTON BOYS. By Harriet Martineau. 37 1-2 cents. 
THE PEASANT AND THE PRINCE. By Harriet Martineau. 

37 1-2 cents 
THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER. By Mrs. Cameron. 37 1-2 cents. 
MASTERMAN READY ; or, the Wreck of the Pacific. Written 

for Young People. By Captain Marryat. Three volumes ; each 

37 1-2 cents. 
THE LOOKING-GLASS FOR THE MIND ; or, Intellectual Mir- 
ror. An elegant collection of Delightful Stories and Tales; 

many plates. 50 cents. 
HOPE ON, HOPE EVER ; or, the Boyhood of Felix Law. By 

Mary Howitt. 37 1-2 cents. 
STRIVE AND THRIVE ; a Tale. By Mary Howitt. 37 1-2 cents. 
SOWING AND REAPING : or, What will Come of it 1 By Mary 

Howitt. 37 1-2 cents. 
WHO SHALL BE GREATEST ? a Tale. By Mary Howitt. 37 1-2 

cents 
WHICH IS THE WISER * or, People Abroad. By Mary Howitt. 

37 1-2 cents 
LITTLE COIN, MUCH CARE ; or, How Poor People Live. By 

Mary Howitt. 37 1-2 cents. 
WORK AND WAGES ; or, Life in Service. By Mary Howitt 

37 1-2 cents 
ALICE FRANKLIN. By Mary Howitt. Z~ 1-2 cents. 
NO SENSE LIKE COMMON SENSE. By Mary Howitt. 37 1-2 cts. 
THE DANGERS OF DINING OUT : To which is added the Con- 
fessions of a Maniac. By Mrs. Ellis. 37 1-2 cents. 
SOMERVILLE HALL : To which is added the Rising Tide. By Mrs. 

Ellis. 37 1-2 cents. 
FIRST IMPRESSIONS; or, Hints to those who would make Home 

Happy. By Mrs. Ellis. 37 1-2 cents. 
MINISTER'S FAMILY ; or, Hints to those who would make Horn© 

Happy. By Mrs. Ellis. 37 1-2 cents. 
THE TWIN SISTERS ; a Tale. By Mrs. Sandham. 37 1-2 cents. 
TIRED OF HOUSEKEEPING ; a Tale. By T. S. Arthur. 37 1-2 cts. 
YOUNG STUDENT. By Madame Guizot. 3 vols. $1 12. 

OVE AND MONEY. By Mary Howitt. 37 1-2 cents. 

*♦* Other works of equal interest will be added to the series. 



A LIBRARY FOR MY YOUNG COUNTRYMEN. 

This Library is confided to the editorial care of one of the most suc- 
cessful writers of the day, and commends itself as presenting t« 
the readers of this country a collection of books, chiefly confined 
to American subjects of historical interests. 

Volumes already Published, uniform in style. Price 37 1-2 cents, each* 

I.—ADVENTURES OF HENRY HUDSON. 

By the author of " Uncle Philip's Conversations." 
This little volume furnishes us, from authentic sources, the most 
important facts in this celebrated adventurer's life, and in a style 
that possesses more than ordinary interest. — Evening Post. 

II.— ADVENTURES OF CAPT. JOHN SMITH, 

The Founder of the Colony of Virginia. By the author 

of " Uncle Philip's Conversations." 

It will be read by youth with all the interest of a novel, and cer- 
tainly with much more profit. — N. Y. American. 

III.— DAWNINGS OF GENIUS; 

Or, the Early Lives of some Eminent Persons of the last 
Century. By Anne Pratt. 

Contents.— Sir Humphrey Davy — Rev. George Crabbe — Baron 
Cuvier— Sir Joshua Reynolds — Lindley Murray — Sir James Macin 
tosh — Dr. Adam Clarke. 

IV.— ADVENTURES OF HERNAN CORTES, 

The Conqueror of Mexico. By the author of " Uncle 
Philip's Conversations." 

The story is full of interest, and is told in a captivating style. 
Such books add all the charms of Romance to the value of his- 
tory. — Prov. Journal. 

V.— ADVENTURES OF DANIEL BOONE, 

The Kentucky Rifleman. By the author of "Uncle 

Philip's Conversations." 

It is an excellent narrative, written in a plain, familiar style, and 
sets forth the character and wild adventures of the hero of the 
Kentucky wilderness in a very attractive light. The boys will all 
be in agony to read it." — Com. Adv. 

VI.— LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 

By Robert Southey, LL.D. 
This is by far the ablest written Life of this extraordinary man. 
It exhibits some striking passages of his career in a true light. 

VII.— FIIIT.:? RANDOLPH. 

A Tale of Virginia. By Mary Gertrude. 

An exceedingly interesting work relating to the Early History of 
the Colony of Virginia. 

VIH.-IX.— HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVO- 
LUTION, 

Its Causes and Consequences. By F. Maclean Rowan* 

A work written in the best spirit, and adapted for universal cir* 
culation. 

%• Other works of equal value will be added to th« series. 



OCE AN-WORK, 



ANCIENT AND MODERN 



OR, 



EVENINGS ON SEA AND LAND. 



BY 



>x'- 



J. HALL WRIGHT, 

AUTHOR OF " BREAKFAST-TABLE SCENES." 



NEW YORK: 

D. APPLETON & CO., 200 BROADWAY 

PHILADELPHIA: 

GEORGE S. APPLETON, 148 CHESNUT ST. 

CINCINNATI: H. W. DERBY & CO., 113 MAIN STREET. 

MDCCCXLV. 






APR 18 1929 

and K&vt G 



SARAH ROSE, 
TO THE GOVERNESSES OF ENGLAND, 

AND TO THEIR PUPILS; 

Cf)(s Hittle aaorft 

IS DEDICATED, 

BT 
THEIR SINCERE FRIEND, 



THE AUTHOR. 



Cbattbbis, Cambbidsk«hibe, 
March, 1845. 



PREFACE. 

In * Breakfast Table Science" an attempt 
was made to attract the young, by pre- 
senting old scientific truths in a new and 
strange garb. In this little volume an en- 
deavour is made to describe the workings of 
the Ocean from the beginning of time down 
to the present hour; and the reader will 
detect at a glance, that the present " Table 
of Contents" is formed after the work above 
alluded to. 

When it is remembered that the Ocean 
has ever been, in the hands of the Divine 



Vlll PREFACE. 

Architect, in the fashioning every rock and 
valley, what the trowel has been in the 
hands of man in building palaces and cities, 
it becomes an object of the deepest interest 
to all to explain how rocks, sand, clay, lime- 
stone, &c, were formed ; and to show that 
the Ocean is even now employed as the 
agent in preparing a new earth, will be the 
main object. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Chapter I , . . , . 1 

Chapter JL ........ 3 

Evening I. 
The Ocean as Rockmaker . ; . . 9 

Evening II. 
The Ocean as Polisher 1*5 

Evening III. 
The Ocean as a Mausoleum . . . ♦ , . 1$ 

Evening IV. 
The Ocean as Valley Cutter . * . ♦ .23 

Evening V, 
The Ocean as Treasure Casket ♦ . , , . 28 



CONTENTS. 



Evening VI. 



PAG3 



The Ocean as Lapidary 32 

Evening VII. 
The Ocean as a Pathway . . . . . . 35 

Evening VIII. 
The Ocean as Palace Builder ..... 38 

Evening IX. 
The Ocean as a Lizard's Home . . • . . 42 

Evening X_ 
The Ocean as Fossilizer . . 55 

Evening XI. 
The Ocean as a Shark's Workshop . . . . . 60 

Evening XII. 
The Ocean as a Fish's Battle-field . . . ,65 

Evening XIII. 
The Ocean as Fertiliser 67 

Evening XIV. 
The Earth as Renovator . . • . . .71 

Evening XV. 
The Ocean as Renovator 79 

Evening XVI. 
The Ocean as Destroyer 82 



CONTENTS. XI 

Evening XVII. PA6B 

The Ocean as Destroyer . 86 

Evening XVIII. 
The Ocean as Island Maker . 92 

Evening XIX. 
The Ocean as Mermaid's Hall . . . . 98 

Evening XX. 
The Ocean as a Shell Factory 104 

Evening XXI. 
The Crocodile's Playground . . . . . . 108 

Evening XXII. 
The Ocean as Lizard's Grave . . . . .114 

Evening XXIII. 
The Ocean as Volcano Quencher 118 

Evening XXIV. 
The Ocean as Lava-Lighter 123 

Evening XXV. 
The Ocean as Earth-Lifter 126 

Evening XXVI. 
The Ocean as Earth-Burster 128 

Evening XXVII. 
The Ocean as Brickmaker 1 30 



xii COXTE^TS, 

Evening XXYIII. tAG3 

The Ocean as Mountain-Builder . * . . .135 

Evening XXIX. 
The Earth as Basin-Fiiler 138 

Evening XXX. 
The Ocean as Slate-Maker ...... 140 

Evening XXXI. 

The Ocean as Coal-Carrier • • • . . « 144 

Evening XXXII. 
The Ocean as Seed-Floater . 150 

Evening XXXIII. 
The Ocean as Coral-Feeder 1-53 

Evening XXXIV. 
The Ocean as a Roof 158 

Evening XXXV. 
The Ocean as Earth-quaker . . . * * • 160 

Evening XXXVI. 
The Ocean as a Sea-Sun «•••«• 162 




INTRODUCTION. 



CHAPTER I, 



Lucy. How slow ! — How very, very slow, does the 
old time-piece go ! It seems odd that the nearer we 
approach the holidays hours seem days, and every 
day a week. 

Kate. And pray, Lucy, what is to he done when 
these long -coveted holidays do come ? 

Lucy. Oh ! everything that is delightful, and 
lovely, and beautiful ! We are going to the sea — the 
real sea ! and we are to roam about all day long over 
the sands : and there are to be water parties ; and I 
have made large bags to collect the stones and 
pebbles, pieces of rock, sea-weed, and everything. 

Jane. And my father has promised to tell us every- 
thing about modern seas and oceans ; and Charles, 
who has been all over the world, has promised to join 
us, and will bring his large collection " of fragments 
of the floors of ancient oceans," to compare with the 
modern specimens we are to collect. 

B 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

Lucy. I cannot even guess what he means by the 
floors of ancient oceans ; but here comes my father. 
Let us ask him. 

Mr. R. Well, ladies ! One at a time. Come, 
Jane, you talk the loudest; you shall play the 
interpreter. 

Jane* Can you explain what Charles means by — 
let me read from his letter — " I shall bring with me 
fragments of the floors of ancient oceans, they have 
been collected in India, China, Russia, Germany, in 
the Islands of the Pacific, and, above all, in France." 
Now. dear father, what we want especially to know 
is, what is an ancient ocean ? and what is its floor ? 
and why 

Mr. R. (interrupting.) Pray, my dear girls, wait 
till you see him. Why should I rob you of the 
pleasures of anticipation ; or Charles of the delight 
of telling you of the "antres vast * he has encountered, 
and the " deserts idle " he has journeyed through to 
form his collection ? There are indeed, Jane, " more 
things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in 
your philosophy." Old as I am, I too look forward 
to the time when Charles will pour out before us his 
vast and profound knowledge of old worlds and 
primaeval oceans, with an anxiety all but equal to 
yours ; but they are waiting for you in the garden. 

Mr. R. (alone J) The earth has many chroniclers. 
Its mountains and everlasting hills still rear their 
heads as they did when Noah trod the earth. Oceans, 
and seas, still roll on where they have rolled for ages. 
Its pyramids still live in history ! Thermopylae is 
still a pass where a handful of men could keep in 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

check a host of warriors. Vesuvius still pours its 
lava and flame as it did ages ago. Palmyra, Baby- 
lon, Balbec, Tyre, Sidon, are in ruins ! but the 
traveller still stumbles over the giant skeletons of 
unburied cities, as he roams through the solitary 
plains. The history of the races who peopled these 
vast solitudes is familiar to us all ; but the ocean has 
no historian — its caverns, its mountains, its sea 
palaces, its valleys, its floor, the races of gigantic 
marine monsters, whose shelly coverings and bones 
compose the very rock upon which we now stand, 
who shall be their historian % Who can ? 



CHAPTER II. 

Notwithstanding Lucy's accusation against the 
old hall time-piece specially, and of the slowness of 
Time's movements in general, he " galloped withal " 
at his usual pace. The longed-for holidays came at 
last ; and, as every movement had been so long 
arranged, the setting sun of the same evening shed 
Ills darting rays upon the whole of Mr. R/s family 
as they entered Brighton. 

Of course, the first inquiry was, " Is Charles 
come ? Where can he be ? What can he be doing ? " 
These useless inquiries giving way to a variety of 
surmises as to the cause of his delay ; and these again 
branching out into whys and wherefores, the most 
unlikely and startling, which were all cut short by 
the entry of Charles himself, with two porters groan- 
ing under the weight of boxes containing treasures 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

to him more valuable than any given weight of stones 
called " precious." We draw a veil around the sacred 
precincts of a meeting so joyous as this. In this 
whole world there is not a more pure and holy feel- 
ing than the affection of a sister, and for Charles this 
was heightened by an admiration for his intellectual 
endowments that was all but idolatrous. 



Early in the morning the campaign was opened by 
Lucy stealing into Charles's room, ostensibly for the 
purpose of telling him breakfast was ready, but 
really to announce that she had already begun her 
collection ; that, having been on the beach at a very 
early hour she had filled her bag with shells and 
other curious things. In a few minutes all were 
assembled, and the conversation soon flowed in the 
channel so earnestly desired by all. 

Mr. R. I have been telling Lucy this morning, 
Charles, that this sea which we are now looking 
at is but a pigmy sea compared to the oceans of the 
olden time. It is indeed a beautiful pathway for 
a ship " to walk the waters like a thing of life ! '' — a 
cheap railroad from the new to the old world, on 
which ships are driven by " atmospheric pressure ; " 
but it has no great and magnificent objects to accom- 
plish like the ancient seas, that deposited the new red 
sandstone, and the coal — the one supplying us with 
exhaustless fuel, and the other with that prime 
necessary of life — salt I 

Charles. True to a certain extent, my dear father ; 
but still this modern ocean has its appointed works 
to perform, not the least important of which is 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

devouring the rocks of which the crust of the earth is 
composed, and strewing the fragments in its estuaries, 
and bays. 

Jane, (Whispering?) Lucy, do you understand a 
word of what they are saying ? 

Lucy. Not a single word. I expected, when the 
breakfast-table was cleared, our bags would have 
been emptied, and Charles would have told us what 
they were, and I had prepared some little labels to 
affix to each. 

Kate. Charles, here's a rebellion breaking out 
in this corner. Here 's Jane and Lucy muttering 
their discontents in no very inaudible tones. 

Mr. R. Thank you, Catherine. I see ! I see ! the 
old habit of forgetting that " new and old red sand- 
stones," and " carboniferous deposits " have no charms 
for young lady collectors. Come, Charles, let us nip 
this rebellion in the bud, by chalking out a plan for 
our future operations. What say you ? 

Charles* I feel under great obligations to Kate for 
the interruption. We will form ourselves into a 
committee of the whole house. Father, you shall 
preside. Catherine, have you anything to propose ? 

Kate. Oh, dear, no ! Nothing but to ask Charles 
to read the list of subjects he lent me this morning. 

Charles. With pleasure ! but would it not be 
better to stroll about whenever we feel inclined 
all day, and to discuss the subject of the ocean in its 
varied aspects in the evening when we are sitting 
quietly together. 

Kate. That will indeed be delightful ; and as our 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

absence from home will extend to two months, the 
whole of the forty divisions of your Syllabus may 
be descanted upon. 

Mr. R. Forty divisions, Kitty ! The sea, the 
ocean, under forty different aspects, impossible ! May 
I read the paper, Charles ? I am sure the ladies will 
listen patiently to " the syllabus of a course of forty 
evening conversations, by Charles R." 

Lucy. Pray begin, father. I am dying to know 
about these old seas and monsters. 
Mr. R. (reading.) — 

1. The Ocean as a Rockmaker. 

2. The Ocean as a Polisher. 

3. The Ocean as a Mausoleum. 

4. The Ocean as a Valley Cutter. 

5. The Ocean as a Treasure Casket. 

6. The Ocean as a Lapidary. 

7. The Ocean as a Pathway. 

8. The Ocean as a Palace Builder. 

9. The Ocean as a Lizard's Home. 

10. The Ocean as Fossilizer. 

11. The Ocean as a Shark's Workshop. 

12. The Ocean as a Fish's Battle Field. 

13. The Ocean as Fertilizer, 

14. The Ocean as Renovator. 

Come, Lucy, I am out of breath ; finish the list. 

Lucy. I am sure I cannot read for laughing. 

Mr. R. Come, Jane, do you try. 

Jane. I am rather worse than Lucy. Let Kate 
take it ; she is always grave and 

Kate. And what, Jane ? 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

Jane. And good, Kitty. 
Kate, {reading.) — 

15. The Ocean as Destroyer. 

16. The Ocean as Island-maker. 

17. The Ocean as Mermaids' Hall. 

18. The Ocean as Shell-factory. 

19. The Ocean as Crocodiles' Playground. 

20. The Ocean as Lizard's Grave. 

21. The Ocean as Volcano Quencher. 

22. The Ocean as Lava Lighter. 

23. The Ocean as Earth-lifter. 

24. The Ocean as Earth-burster. 

25. The Ocean as Brickmaker. 

26. The Ocean as a Mountain Builder. 

27. The Ocean as Macadamizer. 

28. The Ocean as Earth -maker. 

29. The Ocean as Pebble-maker. 

30. The Ocean as Coal-carrier. 

31. The Ocean as Coral-feeder. 

32. The. Ocean as an Earth-roof. 

33. The Ocean as a Floor. 

34. The Ocean as Cavern-maker. 

35. The Ocean as Basin-filler. 

36. The Ocean as Slate-maker. 

37. The Ocean as Seed-floater. 

38. The Ocean as Sand-maker. 

39. The Ocean as Earth-quaker. 

40. The Ocean as a Sea Sun. 

Mr. R. Thank you, Catherine; and I shall not 
attempt to say to Charles how greatly we are obliged 
to him. The understanding then is, that every even- 
ing one hour is to be devoted to the sea and its 
workings. 

Jane. But when are we to see Charles's collection ? 



8 



INTRODUCTION, 



Char, To-day, if you please ; but I propose to 
select the appropriate specimens to illustrate each 
evening's little lecture^ if I may call them so. 

Lucy, And when are we to learn whether our 
pebbles and weeds are worth looking at, Master 
Charles ? 

Char, Oh, that we will decide as we ramble 
together. Come, the day is half gone, and nothing 
seen or done. 

Mr, R. One word, Charles. Let the girls select 
for themselves the order in which these ocean matters 
shall be brought before them. Come, Kate, you 
shall have the first vote. What for Monday 
evening ? 

Kate, No. 1, "the Ocean as a Rockmaker." 

Mr, R. Now, Lucy, for Tuesday ? 

Lucy, No. 2, ;i the Ocean as a Polisher." Now, 
Jane, pray choose No. 13 for Wednesday. 

Jane, No. 3, " the Ocean as a Mausoleum." 

Char. Thank you ! thank you ! this plan is 

admirable. At seven to-night then we commence 

with " the Ocean as Rockmaker." 




OCEAN-WORK 



EVENING I. 

THE OCEAN AS ROCKMAKER. 



Char, (alone). How serene and quiet is the scene 
before me ! Not a breath of air ruffles the surface ; 
and yet 'twas but yesterday that these tiny waves 
were foamy billows, running mountains high. Oh 
that the depths of the ocean had a voice, and that I 
might be the depository of the grand and wonderful 
secrets that have never yet been revealed to mortal ! 

Enter Jane and her sisters. 

Jane. I fear we have kept you, Charles. The 
truth is, we have been expecting to see John bring 
in some of those huge pieces of rock now lying in 
the hall. 

Char. For what purpose, Kate ? 

Kate. Oh, of course to illustrate the Lecture on 
Oceanic Rockmaking. 

Lucy. And I peeped into the room half an hour 
ago, expecting to see the table covered with precious 



10 EVENING THE FIRST. 

stones and other things. But finding you had not 
arrived, I returned to Kate and Jane. 

Kate. Dear Charles, when shall we begin ? Shall 
I tell John to bring the things in ? 

Char. I have brought them with me; in fact, 
they are in my coat pocket. Here they are. 

Kate {laughing). Oh, Lucy and Jane, I must 
laugh ! Here is No. 1, a choice old flint ; and 
No. 2, a very valuable and rare piece of lime or 
chalk ; and No. 3 has all the appearance of a petty 
larceny from the kitchen-maid's sand-box; and, to 
conclude, No. 4 is so like the clay or gault from 
our brickfield, that one might safely vouch for their 
relationship. 

Char. And these are the rock-makers of a whole 
earth ! These, blended together, constitute almost 
every rock. 

Lucy. Impossible, Charles ! Soft clay make 
rock ! — flint make rock — sand make rock ! Quite 
impossible ! 

Jane. Pray, Lucy, have a little patience. Impos- 
sibility is a very common thing with young ladies. 
I recollect Lucy yesterday pronounced a new rondo 
u impossible " to learn ; and Kate meets with impos- 
sibilities every time she walks out. Suppose we say 
improbable ? 

Char. Have patience with me, my dear girls. 
Every science is dry at first, and this rock-making 
especially so ; as I must explain plain and familiar 
things to you, and gradually lead you on to others 
more difficult to understand. 



THE OCEAN AS BOOKMAKER. 11 

Kate. But we understand all about these things 
already. Flint is dug out of the chalk. 

Char. Stop, miss. Let us commence with 
No. 4. What is clay or gault ? 

Kate. Oh, clay is — yes, let me see — clay is gault. 

Char. And where do you imagine all the clay 
came from ? 

Kate. The clay came from? How very ridicu- 
lous ! Why, it was made there, to be sure. 

Char. And the shells, and all other things, were 
made there too % 

Kate. Oh, certainly. Why not ? 

Char. And this clay, in some parts of the earth 
hundreds of yards thick, filled with peculiar shells, 
was all made there \ 

Kate. Certainly. 

Char. And now, fair lady, tell me of what it 
was made. 

Kate. Oh, my dear brother, what nonsense to ask 
me about this nasty clay ! If you really wish to 
know, I dare say the brickmaker can tell us. 

Char. No, he cannot, Kate ; and thousands, nay 
millions, of men, women, and children live and die 
in brick houses, made of this very clay or gault, 
without knowing what it is. 

Jane. Pray tell us. Catherine's love of talking 
will for ever prevent her listening. I, like Kate, 
have hitherto thought clay was clay; but how it 
was made — how it came there — in what vast store- 
shop it was mingled together, I never knew, and, 
what is worse, never thought of. 



12 EVENING THE F1KST. 

Char. Oh, it's a beautiful thing, is this clay: 
pressed by a water press, compared to which all 
human presses are trifles, it becomes slate ; burnt by 
a fire, of vastly greater intensity than the hottest 
human furnace, it becomes the slab- stone upon 
which we walk ; whilst, in the hands of the potter, 
it has filled the earth with vases of porcelain and 
Dresden ware ; and from the kiln of the brickmaker 
this clay has covered the earth with palaces and 
cities. 

Jane. But still we must inquire what it is, where 
it comes from, and what it has to do with rock- 
making % 

Char. It is made of everything, and comes from 
everywhere ! If huge fragments of rock fall into 
the sea, and, after the lapse of ages, become rolled 
and rubbed together till the angles and corners are 
worn off, the fine impalpable dust that is slowly 
worn off is clay. If the hard and hoary mountain 
rock crumbles down slowly under the hand of time, 
the crumbling particles, borne down by the stream 
into the sea, are gault. Look at all the countless 
sands of the sea — they are all round. Note the 
roundness of all the pebbles and boulders — they 
w r ere all sharp, and angular, and square once. All 
that is worn off, has been carried away by water, 
and is now our clay. 

Kate. Well, this is trulv wonderful. Let me feel 
it again. Really clay is not very dirty after all. 

Jane. Clay, then, is the ground of granite, por- 
phyry, greenstone, gneiss, and limestone, mingled 
with water and shells, and pressed together ? 



THE OCEAN AS BOOKMAKER. 13 

Char. Just so, Jane. Oh, Jane, there is some- 
thing wonderful, and beyond all measure grand, in 
thus treasuring up old and apparently useless mate- 
rials, and depositing them all over the earth as a 
" rock-maker ! " The freestone, and the limestone, 
and the marble, are prepared for the hand of the 
rich ; and by a blessed arrangement, the poor man, 
who is "ever to be in the land/' is enriched by 
digging them from their quarries, and fashioning 
them into fitting forms and sizes. But the poor 
man himself needed a house ; he has neither time 
to square the freestone, nor wealth to transport the 
limestone. These rocks are, therefore, many, many 
miles asunder — but the gault, the refuse of all the 
decaying rocks of all ages, is placed everywhere ; so 
that you see our despised lump of clay is no unim- 
portant agent in nature. 

Jane. I am sure, Charles, we feel sorry we spoke 
a word disrespectfully of your specimens. Have 
you time to say a word or two on Nos. 1, 2, 
and 3? 

Char. Clay is mans rock-maker. Flint, and 
sand, and lime, are the chief agents in making these 
ancient rocks, by the hands of God himself, the 
decay and decomposition of which have produced 
the clay. Have we not said enough to invest these 
apparently worthless substances with interest ? 

Kate. Thank you, dear boy. I know you think 
me a giddy, foolish girl. 

Char. No, Kate, never foolish; perhaps a little 
giddy. 

Lucy. Good night, Charles ! Bless you ! 

o 



14 EVENING THE FIBSf. 

Char, (alone). I have undertaken a task v I fear, 
beyond my powers. I never felt the luxury of 
communicating knowledge till this last hour. These 
simple girls have ever loved me as a brother, they 
now reverence me as a being superior to themselves. 
Whether I am successful or not in creating in them 
an increased love for the Divine Architect, I shall, 
at least, have the luxury of leading them on, step by 
step, through the boundless field of nature, and of 
throwing a beauty and an interest over things hitherto 
considered devoid of both. 



15 



EVENING II. 

THE OCEAN AS POLISHER. 



Jane, With what altered feelings have I trodden 
the sea-shore to-day ! Every pebble, every grain of 
sand, every flint, is now teeming with interest. The 
sea has become a vast laboratory or workshop, in 
which every fragment is rounded and polished. 

Char. Every tide that rolls, executing the double 
office of polishing the broken rocks as they fall into 
the sea, and storing up the waste, as it would be 
called, to enable man to do for himself everywhere 
that which is the first act of civilised man — build 
himself a house. 

Jane. But, Charles, would the rocky boundaries 
of the ocean furnish stones in sufficient quantity to 
make all those pebbles, sand, and clay that are found, 
as you before remarked, all over the earth ? 

Char. Certainly not. When you and I were 
children, Jane, don't you remember the thousands 
of pebble stones we broke to pieces on the old 
stepping-stones? You was very learned at that 
time, and talked as glibly of granite, and gneiss, and 
mica slate, as the most learned geologist in his own 
society. 

Jane. I remember. Ah ! Charles, there have been 
no such happy days since. I recollect one afternoon 



16 EVENING THE SECOND. 

collecting some scores, and hammering away all the 
afternoon. Limestones I was thoroughly master of, 
but sandstones were my especial favourites : the 
harder pebbles were left for you. 

Charles. But you well recollect that the inside of 
these stones were almost all different — no two alike. 
One w T hite — hard and shining — ? 

Jane, Oh ! quartz ; that, too, was a favourite. It 
would scratch the school-room window like a diamond. 

Charles. And granite. You well remember we 
little thought that these varied pebbles had been 
little angular or square fragments, and that the ocean 
had rubbed them into roundness. 

Jane. But, Charles, you have forgotten to answer 
my question, " Where the stones and sand came 
from % " 

Charles. The rocks that form the boundaries of 
the ocean furnish but few. Probably, the great 
supply has been from volcanoes, whose fires were 
all quenched before man was the inhabitant of 
this earth. 

Jane. But that would be lava now. I recollect 
but very few of our youth- day pebbles were lava. 
There must be some other source. 

Charles. When in South America I saw Cotopaxi, 
the most lofty of all the volcanoes in that quarter of 
our globe, its height being 18,858 feet. After one of 
the deluges caused by the melting of the snow, we 
were astonished to find the immense quantities of 
fine sand and loose stones that were brought down, 
as well as an immense quantity of mud called 
M enoya," all of which are carried into the lower 



THE OCEAN AS POLISHER. 17 

regions, filling up valleys and stopping up rivers. 
Another source is the shattering of mountains by 
earthquakes. And in every historical record of active 
volcanoes, we read of rivers of mud and loose stones 
being thrown out, 

Jane. What extraordinary changes the earth has 
undergone! It seems as if it had been created and 
destroyed many times. 

Charles. Not " destroyed," Jane. There is no 
destruction ever witnessed, except the swallowing up 
of a city and its inhabitants be called destruction. 
There is change everywhere visible. Nothing on 
earth is durable. The very soil upon which we tread 
is, much of it, solid rock eaten away by the sharp 
tooth of time. 

Jane. I see, Charles, the simple subject of rounded 
pebble-stones leads us to contemplate volcanoes, 
earthquakes, and landslips — those striking evi- 
dences of God's displeasure with the wickedness 
of the world. 

Charles. Nay, Jane ! I have seen an earth- chasm 
in which was entombed the men, women, and children 
of a mighty and populous city, and could have wept 
over it, if I had not felt that the earthquake and the 
volcano were beneficent instruments in the hands of 
Him who overrules everything for our good. By the 
volcano, the earth has become fertilised ; it has broken 
up the caverned roof which forms the floor upon 
which the ocean rolls, letting in its waters into the 
innermost parts of the earth, kindling up fires that 
rush with irresistible force through some chasm in 
the earth; and hurling into the ocean the broken 

c2 



18 



EVENING THE SECOND, 



fragments of its own floor, in the form of mud, sand, 
and stones, portions of which are welded together by 
the pressure of the waves, and burnt into rock by 
subterranean fires. And others are rolled for ages 
and ages by the ceaseless tide-wave, until it is rolled 
into its resting-place as gravel. 



19 



EVENING III. 

THE OCEAN AS A MAUSOLEUM. 



Jane. As we strolled, to-day, through the beau- 
tiful scenery in the vicinity — enjoying every breeze 
that blew from the sea, with a freshness that none 
but the healthy can appreciate ; I inquired of 
Charles whether the bottom of the ocean was as 
unequal and irregular as the land. 

Kate. And he told me, Jane, that the very hill 
upon which I then stood, was formed at the bottom 
of the sea — and that it was the tomb of myriads of 
shell-fish. 

Mr. R. And he might have told you that the 
very cliff upon which this house is built — the moun- 
tainous rocks a few miles off — were all built up 
slowly at the bottom of the sea. 

Jane. There must be some wonderful things at 
the bottom of the ocean, Kitty ! Should you not like 
to pay a visit to the mermaid sitting in state in her 
palace of shells 1 — in a diving-bell, of course. 

Mr. R. The ocean might be found strewed with 
wrecks, and the bones of mariners that had escaped 
those hyaenas of the deep — the shark ; but its chief 
treasures are buried many a fathom deeper than 
human plummet ever sounded. 

Jane. Nevertheless, father, the uriburied wealth 



20 EVENING THE THIRD. 

lying waste at the bottom of the ocean, must be un- 
bounded. Charles has a list of the British ships 
that are sunk yearly. Here he comes : — Charles, 
what number of British ships are sunk yearly in a 
time of peace ? 

Charles. For what purpose do you require it, 
Jane? 

Jane. A proposition has been made to Kate to go 
down in a diving-bell to pay a friendly visit to the 
mermaids and dolphins, and inspect their sea-fur- 
niture. 

Char. And she wishes me to present a catalogue of 
the articles to be seen. In the first list is a calculation 
of the merchant vessels belonging to British mer- 
chants, that have gone down to the dark unfathomed 
depths of the ocean, from 1793 to 1829 : eighteen 
thousand nine hundred and twenty ships ! — averaging 
120 tons each ; being at the enormous rate of 100,000 
tons, annually, of one nation only. 

Kate. Many of these richly laden with gold and 
silver, and precious stones ! 

Char. And spices — ivory and pearls. 

Jane. Will this rich list tempt you, Kate ? 

Kate. No, I must have more yet ; besides, they 
are probably so thinly strewed that I might not 
alight upon one of these treasure- ships. I must have 
something certain before I venture down, Charles. 

Char. Out of 551 ships of the royal navy lost 
to the country, during the period above-mentioned, 
only 160 were taken or destroyed by the enemy, the 
rest having stranded or foundered, or having been 



THE OCEAN AS A MAUSOLEUM. 21 

burnt by accident ; a striking proof that the dangers 
of naval warfare, however great, may be far exceeded 
by the storm, the shoal, the lee-shore, and all the 
other perils of the deep. Enough yet, Kitty ? 

Kate. No ! Brass and iron guns, and wounded and 
mangled sailors, are not to my taste ! I want some- 
thing wonderful and marvellous at least, if I cannot 
find anything precious. 

Char, Think, Kate, of the horrible carnage of 
1 50 species of shark, whose remains now strew the 
floor of the ocean. Think of the myriads of whales 
that swam in ancient oceans, and now lie piled up in 
vast heaps at the bottom. Think of the gigantic 
polypi, real and fabulous, with their thousand arms, 
ready to assist your descent. 

Kate. Quite charming ! another such a tempta- 
tion, and your list of choice and rare sea-furniture 
will be complete. 

Char. Unfortunately the gigantic lizard race is 
extinct, so that there will be no chance of your 
diving-bell being cracked by one of these vast mona- 
sters, but their remains will probably satisfy you. 

Jane. What an unreasonable body you are, Kate ! 
Such a bill of fare would tempt anybody but a 
coward like you. 

Kate. Oh ! bless you, my dear sister, I expected 
the sea floor was all gold and delicate shells — that 
crystals of spar shot up like coral, and that the very 
water was bright with gold and silver fishes, I ana 
not to be tempted by old ships and bones. 

Charles. Oh ! the list is by no means complete. 



22 EVENING THE THIRD. 

There are cities which have been buried in the deep, 
and coral beds of exquisite beauty, shells of surpassing 
beauty and richness. 

Kate. You may as well stop. The 150 species of 
shark that inhabit these lovely sea-palaces are enough 
for me. 

Charles. But, my dear girl, they are all extinct 
but two or three. 

Kate. So far as you know they may be ; but not- 
withstanding all you say, I believe the floor of the 
ocean is a horrible thing to look at — say nothing of 
the bodies of dead men, the ships, and the guns, and 
the rocks, and the volcanoes pouring out lava or some- 
thing like it. 

Jane. I am quite of your opinion, Kitty ; it is 
delightful to think that these things are accumulating 
at the bottom of the ocean, and that the result will 
be the formation of a new world for a future race of 
men ; but the process is one that should be carried on 
silently and secretly under the cover of the ocean, 
till the last wave of the departing sea recedes never 
to return. 

Mr. R. Really, Jane, I am delighted with the 
justness of your views. The sea is indeed a vast 
raausoleum, containing the wrecks and ruins of 
animate and inanimate things ; the process of entomb- 
ing. The loathsomeness of a sea charnel-house, 
the remains of which will constitute future lands, 
beautiful to look upon, is wisely hid from our sight 
by the billow that has for ages rolled over them all. 



23 



EVENING IV. 

THE OCEAN AS VALLEY-CUTTER. 



Mr. R. Well, Charles, I think our plan succeeds 
admirably — the whole character of the girls seems 
undergoing a change. Without understanding any- 
thing connected with Geology thoroughly, enough 
has been said to make the sea and the sea-shore 
objects of deep interest. 

Charles. I feel certain that science may be made 
thoroughly attractive to the most giddy and careless ; 
but it must be science, not hard names. I wonder 
what has happened to the girls ? They have hitherto 
been most punctual : I see them coming slowly up 
the walk in most earnest conversation. 

Lucy. Charles ! Charles ! Jane and Kate have been 
trying to make me believe that the chalk cliff down 
below, is a mass of living insects, and that if I rub a 
lump on a black board, that thousands of perfect 
shells may be seen with a microscope. 

Charles. Well, Lucy, there is very good reason for 
believing it to be so. 

Kate. But our Sister Philosopher, Miss Jane here, 
has been trying to persuade me that my scissors, or 
the metal of which they are made, came originally 
from the wings of an inseejt. 

Mr. R. Very probably. But, ladies, we must 



24 EVENING THE FOURTH. 

adhere to our plan, which is to discuss subjects con- 
nected with the ocean. The first three are ended — 
what next ? 

Kate. Let me see. I select " The Ocean as Valley 
Cutter" 

Jane. And I " The Ocean as Treasure Casket." 

Lucy. And I, " The Ocean as Lapidary" 

Charles. " The Ocean as Valley Cutter," shall be 
the subject for this evening. 

Jane. We are becoming so much interested in the 
ocean and its works, that wo propose to-morrow, if 
the day be fine, to remain out all day. I love to sit 
upon a hill and look down upon a valley, and fancy 
myself the inhabitant of an earth in its youthful 
freshness and beauty. 

Charles. Finish the delightful picture, Jane, or 
shall I ? " When the sea and land strove for the 
mastery — when the very hill upon which you sat 
was yet wet with the ocean-slime, and down the 
valley ran a stream in which all that was frightful 
and hideous on earth and sea — the lizard monsters 
of the deep and the winged lizard of the air basking 
on the new-land." 

Jane. I forgot : my dear fellow, when the valleys 
were forming, man was not upon the face of the 
earth. 

Mr. R. That this earth assumed its present form 
by slow degrees ; that the very hill upon which you 
sat rests upon other hills, at the very base of which 
are found fossil animals the like of which has never 
been seen by man, is proved by geologists — men whose 



THE OCEAN AS VALLEY- CUTTER. 25 

accuracy of observation is as undoubted as their piety 
is real. 

Jane. I well recollect, father, how shocked I was 
when 1 first read that the earth was not formed in 
six days — I could not bring myself to believe it. 

Mr. R. Very properly so, Jane. No man ought 
to believe anything that seems at variance with Scrip- 
ture until he has examined the evidence. Moses 
did not write the previous history and formation of 
the various rocks, but of the last great change imme- 
diately before the creation of man. 

Char. There will be many occasions during my 
stay with you to discuss these abstruse subjects. Let 
us lose no opportunity of observing and ascertaining 
the facts connected with this earth's formation, and 
then we shall be in a much better position for under- 
standing many of the mysteries of its formation and 
growth. 

Mr. R. Thank you, Charles; let us store their 
minds with realities and facts, and then there will 
be no danger of false theories or opinions. 

Kate. I cannot exactly see what this conversation 
has to do with valleys. 

Lucy. Nor I, Kate ; nor can I see what valleys 
have to do with the ocean. The ocean as " Valley 
Cutter." Who knows that the ocean cut the valley 
through which we passed to-day ? 

Char. Firstly, Kate, because the top of the hill 
has layers of shells — sea-shells upon it. How came 
they there ? 

Kate. They were carried there of course. 

D 



26 EVENING THE FOURTH. 

Char. Of course by the sea. 

Lucy. Oh yes, nothing else could have carried 
them there. 

Jane. Then there is another thing, the layers of 
rock on each side of the valley correspond ; how came 
that, Lucy ? 

Lucy. Oh ! I dare say they were one mountain 
once, and were split asunder by an earthquake. 

Charles. Very probably many valleys owe their 
origin to these mountain cracks; but we must not 
forget that the British Channel flows between the 
English and French shores, and the rocks correspond 
so exactly that there is but little doubt, at one time, 
they were joined together. 

Mr. R. And in Auvergne, in France, the hard 
lava has been hollowed out into a deep river. 

Charles. I have seen hundreds of valleys that show 
every mark of having been worn and hollowed out 
by the ocean wave, as perfectly as if it were the 
work of yesterday. 

Jane. I cannot exactly comprehend why there 
should be hills and valleys at the bottom of the ocean. 

Charles. You have read, Jane, of the thousands of 
tons of sand, and wood, and mud, that the Mississippi 
and other rivers bring down and cast into the bottom 
of the ocean. The coarser sand sinks first — the 
lighter, farther in the depths of the sea, although 
both in time cover the depths — the one is more easily 
worn away than the other. 

Kate. I see the floor of the ocean is composed of 
rocks of different degrees of hardness. 



THE OCEAN AS VALLEY- CUTTER. 27 

Jane. And as the sea is ever changing its bed, the 
softer rocks have been carried away, and the harder 
remain. 

Charles. This is the case not only under the 
waters, the hard rocks being the terror of the sailors, 
but it is also the case on land, when the sea has 
receded from the shore, leaving its old bed, as a 
residence for man and animals. 

Mr. R. It then appears clear, my dear girls, that 
valleys are in part made in the ocean by sea-currents; 
that mountains are made deep in the sea by volcanoes, 
and drifting of foreign bodies from land ; but the 
great probability is, that when the present dry land 
became land, that the softer chalks, the sandstones, 
and the clays, would be the first to be washed away; 
and in this way the ocean, in time, would be a Valley 
Cutter. 

Jane. The time has expired. — What a majestic 
part does the ocean play, in forming the very frame- 
work of this earth ! 



28 



EVENING V. 

THE OCEAN AS TREASURE CASKET, 



Mr. R. Come, Lucy, let me see your list of sea 
jewels. 

Lucy. My dear father, I have no list. I have 
been thinking and reading all day about the ocean 
having treasures in it, and I can find none but the 
sunken ships, and anchors, and the gold and silver 
coins contained in these same ships. 

Mr. R. I fear these treasures will be lost to this 
generation, although they will constitute the most 
precious relics in that which will follow us at some 
remote time ; when the ocean, now rolling at our 
feet, shall roll over other sands, and the bottom of 
this sea be dry land. 

Jane. In that view then, Lucy's list comprises the 
treasures for future lands and their inhabitants. I 
have mine here. I am half ashamed of reading it. 

Char. Give it me, Jane; if there he anything 
ridiculous or wrong in it I will skip over it, and pre- 
vent that smothered laugh of Kate's which is just 
ready to burst forth. 

Kate. Oh, Charles ! that 's quite a mistake, I am 
growing quite grave, I really do not think I have 
laughed the whole day. I am turning philosopher 
very fast. 



THE OCEAN AS TREASURE CASKET. 29 

Char. The laughing, or the crying philosopher, 
Miss? 

Kate. I have not quite made up my mind yet ; 
but I rather think the crying. 

Mr. R. My dear Kitty, pray laugh on. Gravity 
and tears are for the old and guilty ; laughter and 
smiles for the young, and thoughtless, and happy. 
Now, Charles, for the contents of Jane's sea- casket. 

Char. Coral — pearls — whalebone. I must recall 
that last gem. I do not see the great value of whale- 
bone, Miss Jane. 

Mr. R. I must join Charles in his objection to 
whalebone. I often wonder, Charles, if it was cus- 
tomary to make a helmet of one universal size and 
shape, and that the young head should be squeezed into 
it ; and that notwithstanding all the headaches, and 
apoplexies, and deaths, and idiocies, that resulted 
from this insane custom, still all civilised nations 
persisted in wearing the fatal helmet : I wonder, I 
say, what the " barbarians " would say to this 
custom. 

Char. If I was king of a Goth or Vandal nation, 
and conquered a country where the human head was 
cramped and moulded into this unnatural shape, I 
would build a vast asylum for the reception of insane 
mothers. 

Jane. Oh ! my poor unfortunate whalebone ! 
Give me my list, Charles. I might have known that 
this is one of the points upon which our father holds 
strong opinions ; but that travelled and polished 
young gentlemen should presume to denounce thin and 

i> 2 



SO EVENING THE FIFTH. 

genteel figures, and elevate corpulent and stout ones 
into awkward perfection, is to me passing strange. 

Mr. R. Pray let me assuage the rising storm by 
asking Jane to read on. 

Jane. Shells, isinglass, spermaceti. That is all. 

Mr. R. A tolerable list ; but there is one thing I 
wonder you have forgotten. Come, Kate, let me see 
yours. Oh ! mine is the same as Jane's. Except 
pearls I could see nothing precious enough in the sea 
to put into a casket. Charles, I see you have a 
slip of paper in your hand. May I ask what it 
contains ? 

Char. I too have a list. Over and above all the trea- 
sures of the deep, far exceeding in value all the gems 
that have ever glittered in the mine, is the salt with 
which the ocean is seasoned and freshened, and which 
is supplied to it in such vast abundance, that the 
supply is inexhaustible. 

Jane. I quite forgot the salt. 

Charles. And then there is the lime, of which all 
the shell-fish make their shells, and which the sea 
then piles into hills, and the sea- volcanoes build into 
mountains ; and in thousands, perhaps thousands of 
thousands of years after, a British House of Lords 
and Commons is built with this limestone. Oh ! lime 
and salt are, indeed, two ocean treasures. 

Mr. R. And another treasure is the sand, worth- 
less and countless as it may seem. Jane, you have 

seen the freestone window-sills in our house at ; 

the little kidney-shaped stones of which it is com- 
posed were all rolled at the bottom of the sea, and 



THE OCEAN AS TREASURE CASKET. 31 

became stone by its pressure ages and ages before man 
was created. 

Charles. And then there is the granite, probably 
formed beneath the pressure of mighty waters, form- 
ing the rocky bed on which the ocean rolls, and 
bestowing upon man a stone for his palaces and 
bridge-building, that defies Time himself. 

Mr. R. No, Charles, no. Nothing defies Time. 
Granite, porphyry, greenstone, sienite, magnesian, 
limestone. Palaces ! and columns ! that were the 
glory of Greece and Rome ! Pyramids ! that were 
the wonder of the olden times ! The ruins that 
strew the deserts of Balbec, Palmyra, Thebes, — all 
have impressions of Time's tooth upon them, and will 
show more and more of his ravages, till the first 
slight chemical change, having gone on to disintegra- 
tion, and that to rottenness and dissolution, pyramid, 
pillar (albeit built with a rock that may have resisted 
the lashings of the ocean waves for many thousand 
years), will fall; the heavier fragments forming the 
soil upon which the herb shall grow, and the lighter 
be wafted by the winds of Heaven to fall into other 
seas, where, again, the process of rock-making is in 
full operation, to be quarried again to build some 
future homo for man, if he then be upon earth. 

Char. Thank you, thank you. The evening has 
been a delightful one to me. 

Jane. I am ashamed of my pitiful list of treasures 
of the deep ! 

Kate. And so am I. I look forward to our next 
evenings with feelings of pleasure that I cannot utter. 



32 



EVENING VI. 

THE OCEAN AS LAPIDARY, 



Kate. Pray, Jane, help me to lift my cargo of 
precious stones upon the table. I have wandered 
over many a long mile of sea-shore for them, probably 
to have the mortification of finding they are just 
nothing at all. 

Jane. But, Kate, one thing is certain; they are 
all polished, some as brightly as if they were precious 
stones. 

Lucy, My collection is a very small one ; it has 
not a pebble in it, but is chiefly composed of shells 
and other little odd things. 

Char. Well, ladies, you have been really indus- 
trious — all sorts and sizes — and some rather uncom- 
mon ; here 's a smooth and polished " thunderbolt" as 
children call them — a very fine specimen of sea- 
polishing. 

Mr. R. I was reading yesterday, Charles, of these 
belemnites, as those curious stones are called in Dr. 
Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, and find, when 
alive, they were a species of cuttle-fish, having ink- 
bags — the very ink-bags, in a fossil state, have been 
found after being entombed for thousands of years. 

Char. Here are fragments of rolled flints. 









THE OCEAN AS LAPIDARY. S3 

Jane* Talking of flints, Charles, I broke one yes- 
terday that had within it a mussel-shell. 

Kate, And I another, having some other shell. 

Char. Jane and I have often seen stones within 
stones, as a kernel within a shell* 

Lucy. How can that be ? Stones do, then, grow 
after all, Master Charles, although you laughed at 
me so heartily the other day when I said so. 

Char. Not in your sense, Lucy. Stones never 
grow upon land — often in the sea ; but these flints — 
what do you think they are imagined to be ? 

Lucy. Flints " imagined to be," Charles ? If Kate 
or I had asked that question, how you would have 
laughed ! Flints, I presume, are neither more nor 
less than flints ; but how the mussel-shell got inside, 
I know not. 

Char. It is imagined that flints are sponges. 

Kate. Sponges ! Charles ! ! 

Char. Sponges, I repeat; the spongy matter being 
gone, and the silicious or flinty being left in its place. 

Kate. Well, really, this beats all the other wonder- 
ful things. How the flinty matter came there, and 
where it came from, are very very strange. 

Mr. R. In due time, Kate, all will be explained 
to you. Flint is one of the most important materials 
in nature ; it enters into the composition of almost 
every rock. 

Char. I have looked through the whole of these 
smooth and polished stones, and find most of them 
are granite or limestone, or chalk : if Lucy and Jane 



34. EVENING THE SIXTH. 

would chip off some pieces of chalk-cliff, they would 
probably meet with some beautiful shells ; but there 
are also shells rolled and polished till they look like 
pebbles ; and here and there a rolled bone that pro- 
bably swam in the sea as part of a saurian or lizard, 
at a time when the rocks, from which these pebbles 
have been broken, were slowly forming at the depths 
of oceans — hundreds of miles from the place where 
you have found them. 

Mr. R. But the evening is so very beautiful for a 
stroll, that we will close this subject, by again choos- 
ing subjects for the next three nights. 

Jane. Is it possible that six evenings have passed 
away ? How precious is time, and how often is it 
wasted ! I am sure we owe a debt of the deepest 
gratitude to you and Charles for this great act of 
goodness and kindness to us. 

Char. Jane, what next 1 

Jane. You shall choose for me, Charles. 

Char. Here, then, " The Ocean as a Pathway." 
Now, Kate % 

Kate. Oh ! I must have my favourite : " The 
Ocean as a Palace- builder/' 

Char. And Lucy, yours ? 

Lucy. " The Ocean as Volcano Quencher." 






35 



EVENING VII. 

THE OCEAN AS A PATHWAY. 



Char, (alone.) How difficult to bring ones mind 
down to treat of this " Wilderness of Waves " as 
a pathway ! a mero highway for the ships to pass to 
and fro, after dwelling for years upon its higher and 
nobler works and ends ; and yet its present work is a 
fitting end ; a period of repose after ages of turbu- 
lence and disquiets ! Having builded up the Earth 
into its present form and beauty, it has now become 
the medium of carrying the blessings of civilisation 
from clime to clime. 

Enter Jane and Mr. R. 
Jane. I cannot look upon the sea without feeling 
a degree of adoration for its Divine Creator, akin to 
the devotion of the Persian enthusiast who worships 
the Sun. 

Char. Bless you, Jane ! I believe there are as 
many, perhaps more, offerings of silent, heartfelt 
praise and thanksgiving ascend to Heaven, from the 
bosom of the deep, as from the busy haunts of men 
in st populous cities pent ! " I am sure my sin- 
cerest prayers have been uttered when sailing quietly 
in the midst of an ocean solitude — there seems but a 
step between us and death — and the spirit feels an 
unruffled calmness that the mere landsman must 
ever be a stranger to. 



36 EVENING THE SEVENTH. 

Jane. To me the Sea presents a more tangible 
image of Deity than earth can. Its illimitable vast- 
ness ! Its giant power ! The grandeur of its move- 
ments ! stand out in bold relief to the puny works 
of man. If I doubted the existence of God, the sea 
and the earth would quite demonstrate it. 

Mr. R. There is nothing new to be told of the 
ocean as it exists now. Its tides! its bays ! its estu- 
aries ! Its trade -winds are the most elementary 
parts of our education. It is a blessed element to 
every shore that it washes — it links man to man 
everywhere in one common brotherhood 

Enter Kate and Lucy. 

Kate. I fear we are late. 

Jane. Indeed you are. 

Lucy. We have been seeing a boat-race, and were 
struck with the absurdity of the losing crew throw- 
ing water upon their sails to make them heavier. 

Char. What was the effect produced ? 

Lucy. Why the last boat gained upon the fore- 
most, until it pursued the same practice, and then 
regained the lead. 

Kate. I regret that we are late ; but to tell the 
truth, Lucy and I voted it to be a capital subject for 
Charles and Jane, but rather dull for us. 

Jane. Well, my dear girls, our tastes are wisely 
made to differ. I love, w T ith you, to watch the 
bounding barque as it steals o'er the deep, and to see 
the gallant ship quit its native shores filled with brave 
and aching hearts ; but I also love to dream over old 
oceans — oceans through which the keel of the navi- 



THE OCEAN AS A PATHWAY. 37 

gator never ploughed. Oceans lit up by a thousand 
volcanic glares, by whose light thousands of gigantic 
monsters rowed their way with paddles whose size 
and power bid defiance to adverse waves and winds ! 

Kate, Come, Lucy ! Jane has been bitten by 
Charles. All this is, no doubt, beautiful, and un- 
doubtedly very true, but still, not to be compared to 
the race between the Nautilus and the Galatea just 
ready to commence. Good night, Jane ! my com- 
pliments to those horrible monsters, that you and 
Charles are so fond of. 

Mr. R. I am not sure that the reproof is not 
just, Charles ; we are but too apt to dream about old 
seas and primaeval oceans, forgetting that, although 
matters of deep interest to us, " they are caviare to 
the multitude." 



38 



EVENING VIII. 

THE OCEAN AS PALACE BUILDER. 



During the whole day, the -whole household was 
in a state of unusual bustle and hurry. Boxes that 
had hitherto been unopened, revealed their contents 
to the light of day; and packages that seemed 
travel- worn were broken up as useless for all future 
purposes. Kate and Lucy were incessantly occupied 
in carrying some choice specimens from the hall to 
their evening lecture-room, whilst Jane and her 
father were employed in the task of placing and 
arranging so much additional furniture. At length 
every thing subsided into its old, orderly quiet ; and 
as usual they either rode or walked through the 
beautiful drives or walks in the neighbourhood, till 
evening brought them to the rcom which, somehow 
or other, was becoming a scene of greater interest 
daily. 

As they entered the room they were struck with 
the exquisite beauty of the shells, and the infinite 
variety of the marbles, from the purest white to jet 
black ; slabs of porphyry, greenstone, sienite ; spars 
of translucent clearness, and polished pebbles, that 
had been picked up on every sea-shore he had 
visited. 

Char. Now, ladies, I have redeemed the first part 
of the promise given in my letter, that I would show 



THE OCEAN AS PALACE BUILDER. 39 

you specimens from " the floors of ancient and 
modern oceans." 

Lucy. But surely, Charles, you do not mean to 
say that all these beautiful pieces of sculptured 
marble have any thing to do with the sea or its 
floors ? I thought marble, at least, was a solid rock, 
with which the sea had nothing to do. 

Char. This beautiful little statue of the purest 
white statuary marble might have been, and pro- 
bably was, common limestone once, and you know 
we have every reason to believe that all the lime- 
stones were deposited by the ocean. 

Jane. I thought you told me, Charles, that some 
of the limestones are entirely composed of shells % 

Char. I saw a number of houses in Northampton- 
shire the other day entirely composed of the broken 
shells of shell-fish, and formed at the bottom of the 
ocean. 

Lucy. But, Charles, there is an immense differ- 
ence between common limestone, such as we see 
burning in our lime-kilns, and the beautiful Parian 
marble of which this little statue is made. 

Char. Not more, Lucy, than there is between the 
clay of which porcelain is made before it is baked 
and after. When limestone is subjected to the in- 
tense action of heat, as it is when near the burning 
veins of granite thrown up from the centre of the 
earth, it becomes white marble. 

Kate. But there is a series of slabs of marble and 
stone like marble, on the table, having figures the 
most extraordinary in them, some like fishes, others 
shells and plants like coral. 



40 EVENING THE EIGHTH. 

Char. These three slabs, marked 9, 10, and 11, are 
from Auvergne, in France ; they were taken from 
strata of limestone, marl, and sandstone, hundreds of 
feet thick, which contain nothing but fresh- water 
and land shells, together with the remains of land 
quadrupeds. Here are others composed wholly of 
snail-shells ; this last slab was from the banks of the 
Rhine, although they are also found in Mayence, 
Worms, and Oppenheim. 

Jane. I thought snails were land . . . animals, 
may I call them ? 

Char. So they are, Jane. When I was last summer 
on the lakes of Switzerland, and watched the little 
deltas where the mountain torrents entered the lake, 
I found the mud and sand there strewed with innu- 
merable dead land shells, which had been brought 
down from the Alps by the melting of the snows of 
the preceding winter. 

Lucy. Here, Charles, No. 27 is a very curious 
little slab. 

Char. Oh that was given me by Prof. E., of 

B ; it is a flinty stone, called tripoli ; it is used 

when powdered for polishing stones. What think 
you it is ? 

Lucy. I understood you to say it was flinty. 

Char. So it is, but here is a new wonder; this 
little slab is composed of millions of skeletons, or 
cases of microscopic animalcules ; the stratum from 
which this was taken extended over a wide area, and 
was no less than fourteen feet thick. When examined 
by a microscope the cases are found to be pure silex 
or flints, united together without any cement ; they 



THE OCEAX AS PALACE BUILDER. 41 

are so exceedingly small that it is computed that 
there are 187,000,000 in a single grain. 

Mr. R. At every stroke, then, we make with this 
polishing powder, several millions, perhaps tens of 
millions, of perfect fossils are crushed to pieces ! 

Char. Enough has been said to prove that for a 
vast period of time the stones with which we build 
our palaces, and the marbles for our statuary to 
adorn them, have been slowly forming for us at the 
bottom of the ocean. Millions of animalcules have 
lived their day, and died to form a single grain of 
stone ; and yet it exists in such rich abundance, that 
other worlds might be filled with our spare material. 
Everywhere is the earth filled with marks of God's 
greatness and goodness. The most minute animal- 
cule ! — the delicate and fragile shell ! — the broken 
and shattered stone ! — the living and the dying fish ! 
— have all become subservient to His one great 
mighty purpose, rendering the earth an ocean-made 
palace for man. 



E 2 



42 



EVENING IX. 

THE OCEAN AS A LJZARD^S HOME, 






Jane. My dear Charles, since yesterday I have 
spent some hours in poring over these stones and 
specimens. It is at least one hour before the usual 
time of meeting. I have a dozen questions to ask — 
shall I tire you % 

Char. Oh, no, Jane ! I wish, in future, you would 
stroll in here half an hour before the regular business 
commences ; it would be the most delightful thing 
to me to talk to you about these old blocks of stone. 
Kate and Lucy are good girls, but too young and 
giddy for serious talk. 

Jane. Thank you, my dear boy. I feel an intense 
desire to know about the beginning of these things. 
I know, because every one is taught that now, that 
man was created six thousand years ago, and that 
the earth was slowly formed, as far as regards its 
rocks ; but I firstly want to know, if the earth had 
inhabitants from the very beginning of time. 

Char. It is generally believed not ; as all the 
early rocks, the floors of ancient and modern seas, 
appear to have been formed by fire, and they have 
no remains of animals. 

Jane. But even if animals had lived then on the 
new earth, and if their remains had been buried in 



THE OCEAN AS A LIZARD 's HOME. 4o 

rock, as they are in many of the specimens on the 
table, would not the fire that formed the rock have 
destroyed the remains of animals and plants ? 

Char. Oh, certainly ! It appears quite certain, 
however, that the sea was filled with living creatures 
at a very early period, or there would not have 
needed 150 species of shark to keep down the 
teeming produce of the ocean. 

Jane. One hundred and fifty species of shark ! 
One can scarcely believe that any man should be 
sufficiently skilled to discover in what the difference 
consisted. 

Char. I recollect feeling just as you feel, Jane : I 
doubted the reality of all 1 read ; and if I had not 
studied comparative anatomy, I should still have 
doubted. 

Jane. Comparative anatomy, Charles ? What is 
the difference, pray, between anatomy and compara- 
tive anatomy ? 

Char. One is the simple knowledge of the struc- 
ture; the other is the comparison of the bones of 
living animals, as well as the flesh and sinews, with 
the fossil bones of extinct or long since perished 
animals. 

Jane. I cannot think, Charles, that a little bony 
prominence, or a little groove in a bone, can enable 
any man to say one animal differs from another. I 
imagine all the large family of sharks differed merely 
in features, just as the human family do. 

Char. No, Jane, it is not so ; the species do not 
run into each other as you imagine. The connection 



44 EVENING THE NINTH. 

between different parts of the frame is so fixed and 
certain, that it requires only a small portion of any 
animal's remains to show its nature, and ascertain 
the class to which it belongs. 

Jane. I wish I could feel convinced on this point. 
I have read of some very learned men, anatomists 
too, who mistook the bones of a salamander for a 
mans. 

Char. And of others who could not distinguish 
between human bones and those of a newly-disco- 
vered animal — between a lizard and a fish. 

Jane. Well, then, if these learned men made such 
blunders, might not your great authority, Cuvier. 
make others equally great ? 

Char. Cuvier doubted his own skill. He tried 
over and over again many experiments on fragments 
of the bones of known animals, and with a success 
so unvaried, as gave him implicit confidence in his 
method w r hen he came to examine fossil remains. 
But here is our father, trying to persuade Kate to 
walk soberly, instead of running and jumping over 
everything. 

Mr. R. Kate, you wild, untameable ass's colt ! 
will you ever learn to keep silence ? 

Kate. Not with you, father, certainly never ! why 
should I % I am as happy as the day is long with 
you ; and I must show it. I don't want to be a 
philosopher, or look grave and learned. Do you, 
Lucy? 

Lucy. There is no great fear of either of us being 
philosophers or blue-stockings ; but as to being grave, 



THE OCEAN AS A LIZARD'S HOME. 45 

Kitty, who can see Charles and Jane without look- 
ing like gravity itself ! They look as if they had 
been discussing the " Cosmogony ; or, Creation of 
the World," with that celebrated personage, Ephraim 
Jenkinson, in the " Vicar of Wakefield." 

Mr. R. Pray, Charles, what have you and Jane 
been discussing so very earnestly ? 

Char. Jane is sceptical on the subject of compara- 
tive anatomy ; she even doubts the skill of the 
profound Cuvier. 

Lucy. Really, I am ashamed to say, Charles, I do 
not know what this particular anatomy is ; and I 
can answer for it that Kate and I never heard this 
profound gentleman's name before. Cuvier! — a 
Frenchman, I suppose ! 

Char. Not know Cuvier ! The Cuvier who could 
take a hoof, a piece of horn, or a tooth, and could 
from that tell the form, size, figure of the animal ; 
how it fed, what it fed upon ; whether it swam in 
the sea ; floated upon the surface of the water ; 
basked in the midst of the slime ; and rose and roamed 
through ancient forests, the sole and undisputed 
monarch thereof! Not know Cuvier, who sat down 
in the midst of a charnel-house of loose bones, and 
rose up, the all but Creator of new and strange forms, 
the like of which had long since left this earth ! 

Kate. I am sure, my dear Charles, I beg your 
and Monsieur Cuvier's pardon. If he really has 
done these wonderful things, I greatly wish to know 
more about him. He must have been a wonderful 
man to have been enabled to tell what sort of animal 
it was by merely seeing its little toe. (Laughs 
immoderately.) 



4:6 EVENING THE NINTH. 

Jane. Kate, you wicked girl, what are you laugh- 
ing at? 

Kate, Oh, Jane, forgive me, I was merely thinking 
whether Cuvier would be enabled to tell what sort 
of an odd creature I am, if I sent him one of my 
finger-nails. 

Char. Laughable as it seems, I have no doubt 
that he could, if you enclosed, in the same parcel, the 
tooth you had extracted, the week before last. 

Kate. The tooth, Charles ! Why, soberly and 
seriously, my dear boy, of what use would that be 
to him ? 

Char. Of infinite use. From the form of the nail 
he would infer that you was an animal not fond of 
work; and the tooth would enable him to say posi- 
tively, that you ate everything that came in your way. 

Mr. R. To sum up all, his definition would be, an 
animal that lived at its ease, and that was omni- 
vorous. 

Kate. What a hard word. 

Mr. R. Simply meaning — to eat everything. 

Char. And now, ladies, after this amusing digres- 
sion, suppose we return to the subject of the evening 
— " The Ocean as a Liza?'d's Home.'* 

Jane. Surely, Charles, the ocean never could 
have been filled with lizards. It must have been a 
horrible sight to see. 

Lucy. I never see these little black creatures with- 
out shuddering. 

Kate. You mean the little black newts living in 
old rubbish and decayed brick- walls % 



THE OCEAN AS A LIZARD 's HOME. 47 

Lucy, Little crocodiles and alligators ? 

Char. There is every reason to believe, that when 
the new earth-lands were rising out of the sea, long 
before the earth was solid enough for the growth of 
trees and fruits, myriads of these reptiles of gigantic 
size roamed over the new world, its undisputed pos- 
sessors. The size of some is so vast as to appear 
incredible. 

Jane. What could be their uses, Charles % 

Char. Uses, Jane? Why to live and be happy, 
for one thing ; to feed upon the countless millions of 
fish, for another ; but chiefly to strew the floor of 
the ancient oceans with broken fragments of their 
sea-food, to form many of the rocks now lying on 
the table. 

Jane. How very extraordinary ! Who could have 
thought that such hideous monsters as the ichthyo- 
saurus, the plesiosaurus, the mososaurus, were 
created that they might be rock-makers for man. 
Wonderful ! 

Char. And there is another thing yet, my dear 
girls, still more wonderful, and that is the perfect 
and complete extinction and dying off of these mon- 
sters after they had answered the end for which they 
were created — and the creation of another race, and 
then their death, and then the creation of others. 

Mr. R. My children, we can never conceive of 
God as we ought, as the Creator of all things, till we 
thoroughly understand the wonderful and successive 
creations, dyings off, re-creations ; every successive 
creation perfect in its kind, perfectly fitted for the 
ocean work it had to perform. 



48 EVENING THE NINTH. 

Kate. Really, father, you almost make me tremble. 
How came these vast monsters to die ? 

Mr. R. The Power that created them caused 
them to cease to live. Some were choked by the 
irruption of liquid chalk into the seas ; others by the 
flowing in of mud ; others hy the agency of sea- 
volcanoes, the glare of whose light probably attracted 
myriads of these saurian monsters, to be destroyed 
by the lava, as it ran down the half-hidden mountain 
in torrents, and to be buried in the ocean of sea, mud, 
and ashes that were projected from its crater. 

Char. Shall we proceed, at our next meeting, to 
consider our next subject, which is "The Ocean as 
the Shark's Workshop." 

Kate. No, no ! I must really know more of these 
saurians, and their deaths. 

Lucy. And I too vote for another evening being 
devoted to these strange creatures. Kate, we must 
really learn more of Charles's great favourite, Cuvier. 
I will certainly spend to-morrow in looking over his 
immense folio volumes. 

Kate. And I too. I looked in one the other day, 
but thought it contained nothing but a collection of 
old bones. 

Jane. Now, young ladies, Charles and I shall 
be happy to join you to-morrow afternoon at three. 
Good-bye. 

Mr. R. (alone). At last we are entering upon 
matters and events the most profound and mo- 
mentous. The last Creation of God gave birth to 
that most glorious of his works — man ! and all the 



THE OCEAN AS A LIZARD 's HOME. 49 

animals now living upon earth with him ; all formed 
for his solace, his delight, and his happiness, To 
attempt an outline of the history of former creations 
and extinctions is indeed a lofty enterprise, and one 
that must lead to universal love and reverence for 
Him who has thus prepared, through countless ages, 
this earth as a home for man. 

Char. Who shall say, after the experience of this 
day, that geology is a dry study ! Here have been 
three girls looking through the magnificent tomes of 
Cuvier with greater interest than the most ardent 
novel-reader would consume a new novel. 

Mr. R. The great error we commit, Charles, is 
in teaching the elementary parts of geology and fossil 
osteology first. It is far more rational, and infinitely 
more successful, to excite an interest injbhe youthful 
mind by theorising, even if the facts themselves are 
rather questionable. 

Char. The idea of new creations, new species, and 
old creations dying off, seem to have struck all the 
girls with amazement ! Jane's mind seems to stagger 
under the vastness of the idea. Here they come! 
Well, Jane, what of the divine Cuvier ? 

Jane. I never felt the infinite littleness of self as 
I do at this moment ! I seem to have lived to no 
purpose — for nothing, absolutely nothing. In one 
day Cuvier did the work of the lifetime of an ordi- 
nary man. In one hour, the life-work of a woman. 

Char. I rejoice that you have appreciated the 
"god of my idolatry." There has always appeared 
to me something superhuman in the labours of Cuvier: 



50 EVENING THE NINTH. 

placing him above Laplace, Bacon, and Newton ; — 
none but himself his parallel. 

Mr. R. Come, Charles, we must not soar into the 
clouds whilst we are upon earth. Lucy and Kate, 
how is this, quite silent ? 

Kate. Quite silent, father ! Many of these things 
we do not comprehend ; but what we do, is wonder- 
ful beyond everything we ever read of. 

Lucy, I confess I am very stupid, but I am 
exceedingly desirous of learning more. 

Mr. R. It is impossible for the young mind to be 
brought into a more hopeful condition than yours, 
Lucy. A confession of ignorance, conjoined to a 
desire to acquire knowledge, never yet went without 
its reward. What has more particularly struck you, 
Jane, after looking through the plates of Cuvier s 
Fossil Osteology ? 

Jane. After the first feeling of wonder passed 
away, I was struck with the sameness of form in the 
various bones. 

Char. You mean that the fossil fin, or paddle-arm 
of some of the monstrous lizards, was not very unlike 
the arm or leg of a horse, or elephant, or man himself? 

Jane. Just so, Charles; and yet, when clothed 
with flesh, as in living animals, the differences must 
have been extremely great. 

Lucy. But I have been thinking all day, and 
dreaming all night, of the succession of animals from 
the first creation, down to the last — from the trilo- 
bite, I think it is called, or fossil-shrimp, down to 



THE OCEAN AS A LIZARD'S HOME. 51 

the mammoth, and mastodon, and megatherium. I 
feel that 1 must understand this. 

Char. Nothing so easy. Here is a piece of rock — 
the lowest ever found with fossil remains imbedded 
in it. Examine it well, lake the next stone in 
the series ; some few of the first animals remain, but 
many have disappeared ; and so on, until the bones 
of animals now living are found at the top. 

Mr. JR. The greater portion of some of the rocks 
being composed wholly of some of the species of 
extinct animals. 

Char. It would interest you but little to give all 
the names of rocks or their remains ; but it is a 
subject of exceeding grandeur to think that God has, 
from time to time, filled the earth and ocean with 
inhabitants suited to its varying condition. 

Mr. R. This is a subject that has yet received no 
attention from the public ; and yet nothing can exceed 
it in interest. 

Jane. The truth is, my dear father, that the hard 
names of the rocks, and the animals and fishes that 
lie buried in the midst of them, frighten the student 
at the very threshold. If we had been expected to 
learn the names of rocks and periods— if " Plutonic 
and Neptunian" theories had been discussed — if 
Eocene, Pliocene, Post-Pliocene, and Miocene eras 
had been required to be remembered, instead of 
wishing for each successive evening to arrive, we 
should have yawned through two or three evenings, 
and then abandoned them. 

Mr. JR. Perfectly just, Jane ; names have no 
interest whatever; things cannot fail to excite it, 



52 EVENING THE NINTH. 

especially when brought before us in a new light. I 
was much struck with a remark of Charles's to-day. 

Char. What was that, father ? 

Mr. R. With reference to the extinct animals and 
the new creations. 

Char. Oh, 1 remember ; I was saying to father 
how difficult it was to place these profound mysteries 
in a popular light ; and I thought if I was a popular 
lecturer on these sciences I could do it. 

Mr. R. The merit of your suggestion shall be 
divided between us, Charles : I shall never forget the 

effect I produced on an audience at H , when 

lecturing on fossil remains and geology. 

Kate. Oh, pray, father, do not keep us in the dark; 
tell us at once what interested your audience so deeply 
at H. 

Mr. R. Willingly. I commenced by describing 
stratified and unstratified rocks, dividing the former 
into shales, limestones, oolites, chalks, &c, and the 
latter into granites, gneiss, hornblende, &c. I saw 
at a glance this would never do; and when I had 
explained that the animal remains found in each rock 
indicated its relative age — in fact, it was Time's 
seal impressed upon it — and proceeded to say that 
the animal remains found in B. disappeared in C, 
and those in C. were not found in D., the attention 
bestowed might have satisfied a mere paid lecturer ; 
but I saw that I was addressing a languid audience. 
I called their attention to the fact of these vast changes 
in the animated beings on the earth and in the ocean, 
by asking them to believe that, instead of horses and 



THE OCEAN AS A LIZAKD's HOME. 53 

cows, there had never been seen by the eye of a man 
any other beasts of burden than the elephant and the 
camel — that on that night, every man went to bed, 
having seen his camel or his elephant either browsing 
upon the herbage provided for them, or stabled for 
the night — what would be the consternation of the 
first man who entered the first stable or paddock, and 
found the elephant or camel lying 

"with his nostril all wide, 
But through it there roll'd not the breath of his pride ; 
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, 
And cold as the spray of the rock-breaking surf !" 

How great would his astonishment be to find others 
in the street, lamenting for the loss of their beautiful 
camel, or favourite elephant ; with what awe would 
the assembled crowds of the awakened city look upon 
these noble animals lying dead in every pasture ! And 
how would this feeling rise, when, as successive 
coaches came in from York, and Manchester, and 
Nottingham, the first word that was uttered by the 
panic-struck passengers was, the death of every ele- 
phant and camel, not only in those cities, but also in 
every field by the road- side from thence to H. ? . 

Kate. I do not wonder that the audience should 
feel an interest in what you was saying. 

Lucy. Nor I, Kate. 

Mr. R. But half the wonder is not yet told, for on 
rising from their beds the next morning every stable, 
every common, every field, had in them new crea- 
tions. Creatures of exquisite symmetry, and beauty, 
and usefulness — the horse and the cow ; and (not to 

f2 



54 EVENING THE NINTH. 

weary you), as every traveller caine home, as every 
ship, whether from the Antipodes, from Russia, 
America, India, near and remote, landed, the first 
theme, the first sentence in every one's mouth, was this 
extinction of elephants and camels all over the world, 
and this creation of horses and cows in their stead. 

Char. All occurring on or about this 1 6th of May, 
1844. 

Mr. R. Of course ! Wonderful as this may seem 
to you, it is small and trivial compared to the mighty 
changes that have been going on for myriads of ages. 
Trilobites and countless mollusks die, and are suc- 
ceeded by lizards of vast and unwieldy bulk ; they 
die, and up spring enormous land animals — the 
megatherium, the mastodon, and the mammoth ; they 
die, and then follows the era when the extinct 
hippopotami and elephants were lords of the forest ; 
and, lastly, came the Lord of the Creation — Man ! 



55 



EVENING X. 

THE OCEAN AS FOSSILIZER. 



Jane. We have been examining your collection of 
fossil bones, Charles, and are struck with their weight. 
What is the difference between a fossil bone found in 
the rock, and a common bone buried in the earth ? 

Char. The difference is caused by a new deposit 
of flinty or limy matter. 

Jane. That I know very well ; but where did it 
come from, and how did it enter into the very sub- 
stance of the bones ? 

Kate. Oh, I think I can tell very well ; you know, 
Lucy and I put many things in the petrifying well 
in Derbyshire, and they came out perfect limestone. 

Char. Not exactly so, Miss Lucy : your limestone 
was merely left upon the article placed there ; in 
fossil bones and wood it enters into their very 
substance, 

Jane. I cannot imagine how it is forced in, nor 
where it comes from. 

Char. We will take the last first. From the com- 
position of many of the early rocks w T e find silex, or 
flint, entered largely into their composition. There 
is every reason to believe that, although water cannot 
dissolve flint now, yet at one time, and under enor- 
mous pressure, it could. 



56 EVENING THE TENTH. 

Jane. Talking of enormous pressure, Charles, 
reminds me of a page I read in Captain Scoresby's 
work on the Arctic Regions ; he says that, " On one 
occasion a whale on being harpooned ran out all the 
lines in the boat, which it then dragged under water 
to the depth of several thousand feet, the men having 
just time to escape to a piece of ice; when the fish 
returned to the surface ' to blow' (breathe), it was 
struck a second time, and soon after killed. The 
moment it expired it began to sink: an unusual cir- 
cumstance, for, generally speaking, the quantity of 
fatty, oily, matter causes them to swim ; this sinking 
of this vast mass of blubber was found to be caused 
by the weight of the sunken boat, which still re- 
mained attached to it. By means of harpoons and 
ropes, the fish was prevented from sinking until it 
was released from the weight by connecting a rope 
to the lines of the attached boat, which was no 
sooner done than the fish rose again to the surface. 
The sunken boat was then hauled up with great labour; 
for so heavy was it, that although before the accident 
it would have been buoyant when full of water, yet 
when empty it required a boat at each end to keep it 
from sinking. When it was hoisted into the ship, 
the paint came off the wood in large sheets, and the 
planks, which were of wainscot, were as completely 
soaked in every pore as if they had lain at the bottom 
of the sea since the flood. A wooden apparatus that 
accompanied the boat in its progress through the 
deep, consisting chiefly of a piece of thick deal, 
about fifteen inches square, happened to fall over- 
board, and though it originally consisted of the 
lightest fir, sank in the water like a stone. The 



THE OCEAN AS FOSSILIZER. 57 

boat was rendered useless : even the wood of which 
it was built, on being offered to the cook for fuel, 
was tried and rejected as incombustible/' 

Kate. That is the way, then, that when a tree falls 
into a river, it swims at first, and then sinks ? 

Mr. R. Yes, Kate ; its pores contain air ; after a 
time, water forces its way into these pores, the wood 
becomes water-logged, and sinks. 

Jane. Captain Scoresby mentions other experi- 
ments he made ; I forget them. 

Char. Give me the book, Jane. Here it is. " I 
sunk," says he, u pieces of fir, elm, ash, &c. to the 
depth of four thousand, and sometimes six thousand 
feet ; they became impregnated with sea- water, and 
when drawn up again, after immersion for an hour, 
would no longer float ; and what is very extraordi- 
nary, the size of the wood as well as its weight was 
greatly increased, every solid inch having increased 
one- twentieth in size, and |-i in weight." 

Mr. R. You imagine, then, my dear Charles, that 
when bones and plants, or whole animals, fell to the 
bottom of the sea, that the silicious or flinty matter 
was forced into their cavities by the enormous pres- 
sure of the ocean $ probably there were springs of 
liquid flints at the bottom of the ocean ? 

Char. I believe there were ; I think there can be no 
doubt of it, but that we will explain when we come 
to consider the " Ocean as a Floor." 

Jane. This explanation takes aw T ay every difficulty; 
the bones and plants were merely acted upon as Cap~ 
tain Scoresby's boat was. 



58 EVENING THE TENTH. 

Lucy. That will do very well, Miss Jane, for the 
deep seas; what Will you do for the more shallow ones ? 

Char. Neither the botanist nor the chemist have 
been able to explain how T wood, and other matters, 
become petrified ; nevertheless, it is well known 
that the same process is now T going on. When I was 
last at Rome, 1 procured a piece of wood from an 
old Roman aqueduct ; here it is — in which you 
will see the woody fibre is converted into a chalky 
substance, or carbonate of lime. Some curious 
experiments of the celebrated chemist, Professor 
Goppert, of Breslau, all tend to show that the 
fossilization of animal and vegetable substances can 
be carried much farther in a short time than had 
been previously supposed. 

Mr. R. Really, Charles ! Have you any notes 
of these interesting experiments ? 

Char. I recollect the substance of them well. His 
processes went principally to prove that many of the 
fossil specimens are but imitations, in stone, of the ori- 
ginals : the old mould being destroyed in the process. 

Jane. Do I understand you, that many of these 
fossil likenesses of plants and bones, now strewed 
upon this table, may be, after all, only imitations of 
the originals % 

Char. Very probably, Jane. Professor Goppert 
placed ferns between soft layers of clay, dried these 
in the shade, and then slowly and gradually heated 
them till they were red hot. The result was the 
production of so perfect a counterpart of fossil plants 
as might have deceived an experienced geologist; 
some of these specimens are black, others brown. 



THE OCEAN AS FOSSILIZER. 59 

Mr. R. That readily accounts for the apparent 
existence of plants in coal, but hardly for the fossil 
remains imbedded in other rocks. 

Char. Other experiments consisted in dipping spe- 
cimens of animal and vegetable substances in a 
mixture of blue vitriol and water, and also in sili- 
cious, calcareous, and metallic mixtures; they were 
then dried, and kept heated till they would no longer 
shrink in volume, and until every trace of their 
original organic matter had disappeared. 

Mr. R. Thank you, Charles. We have only to 
imagine an ocean-floor covered with a layer of clay, 
into which the bones of marine and terrestrial 
animals are thrown down ; and again, other and suc- 
cessive layers of clay, and then the tremendous sub- 
terraneous heat that is ever seeking a vent in the 
thinnest parts of the earth's crust — but must have 
found a much more ready one in the ocean depths, 
when that crust was thin, and when the "ever- 
lasting hills," as they are incorrectly termed, were 
not. 




60 



EVENING XL 



THE OCEAN AS A SHARERS WORKSHOP. 



Char, (alone.) Perpetual destruction, followed 
by continual renovation, is a universal dispensation ; 
it is the law by which the happiness of all created 
things is increased over the entire surface of the 
terraqueous globe. 

Mr. R. Do I interrupt you, Charles ? 

Char. No, dear father ; I was just reading the 
33th chapter of Buckland's magnificent work, en- 
titled " Aggregate of Animal Enjoyment increased, 
and that of Pain diminished, by the Existence of 
Carnivorous Races," — it is a beautiful chapter. 

Mr. i?. Exceedingly so, and quite necessary to be 
read, to enable us to account for the enormous appa- 
rent waste of human life by the saurians and sharks 
that filled ancient seas. Read a small portion of the 
chapter, Charles; here are the girls just ready to 
enter. 

Char. I fear they will not feel interested in it. 

Jane. I see you have Dr. Buckland in your hand, 
Charles. I read his chapter on the utility of the 
carnivorous races, this morning. Until then it filled 
me with melancholy thoughts, to think that so vast 
a proportion of the animals of a former world were 



THE OCEAN AS A SHARERS WORKSHOP. 01 

created apparently for the sole purpose of effecting 
the destruction of life. 

Lucy. I felt the same thing, Jane ; I was quite 
horrified at the dreadful carnage. 

Char. I am glad you have given me your thoughts. 
It is a subject that I have often thought upon ; I 
will read half a page from Dr. Buckland, as my 
father wishes it. If you do not understand it, ask 
me to explain ; never mind interrupting me in the 
middle of a sentence. — (Reads) — " The law of Uni- 
versal Death being the established condition on which 
it has pleased the Creator to give being to every 
creature upon earth, it is a dispensation of kindness 
to make the end of life, to each individual, as easy as 
possible. The most easy death is proverbially that 
which is least expected ; and though, for moral rea- 
sons peculiar to our own species, we deprecate the 
sudden termination of our mortal life, yet in the 
case of every inferior animal, such a termination of 
existence-is obviously the most desirable. The pains 
of sickness and decrepitude of age are the usual 
precursors of death, resulting from gradual decay—- 
these, in the human race alone, are susceptible of alle- 
viation, from internal sources of hope and consola- 
tion, and give exercise to some of the highest chari- 
ties and most tender sympathies of humanity. But, 
throughout the whole animal creation of inferior 
animals, no such sympathies exist ; there is no affec- 
tion or regard for the aged or feeble ; no alleviating 
care to relieve the sick, and the extension of life 
through lingering stages of decay and of old age* 
would to each individual be a scene of protracted 
misery/' 



62 EVENING THE ELEVENTH. 

Jane* How very beautiful and affecting, and how 
true ! Until this moment, father, I had not quite 
forgiven you for taking the life of our old favourite 
horse. I thought he ought to have spent the re- 
mainder of his days frolicking about, having nothing 
to do. 

Mr. R. You see now, Jane, that that was a false 
humanity ; the world is full of the like. 

Kate. Do you recollect those two beautiful white 
ponies that a friend of ours kept, until they were 
between thirty and forty years old ? 

Mr. R. Recollect, Jane ? I shall never forget it. 
The mistaken humanity in these cases inflicted an 
amount of pain and even hunger upon these two worn- 
out faithful creatures, that was shocking to witness. 

Char. Do you think, father, that a man having 
no further use for an old horse, or one that he has 
disabled for his work, or that has become blind, 
ought to sell him to others who have no kindly 
feeling for him, and would not treat him compas- 
sionately ? 

Mr. R. The world and I, Charles, have long been 
at issue on this point. I should almost doubt the 
Christianity of any man who could transfer a worn- 
out animal into the hands of the sordid and wretched 
beings who ill treat that most noble of all God's 
creatures, the horse. 

Jane. But would you have every disabled horse 
killed? 

Mr. R. Certainly. T wish I could rouse this 
Christian nation to a sense of the horrible cruelties 



THE OCEAN AS A SHARK 's WORKSHOP. 63 

they permit others to practise upon animals after 
they have ceased to be the owners. I allude not to 
the horrible knacker's yard, because death is near 
then, but to the noble and beautiful animals, once 
the property of some titled or wealthy man, maimed 
in some brutal match, or still more brutal steeple- 
chase, that shock the feelings of every humane man 
as they drag our omnibuses and cabs through the 
crowded streets. 

Char. Shall I proceed with Dr. B. ? 

Mr. R. Yes, if you please. 

Char. u Under such a system the natural world 
would present a mass of daily suffering, bearing a 
large proportion to the total amount of animal enjoy- 
ment. By the existing dispensations of sudden 
destruction and rapid succession, the feeble and disabled 
are speedily relieved from suffering, and the world is 
at all times crowded with myriads of sentient and 
happy beings ; and though to many individuals their 
allotted share of life be often short, it is usually a 
period of uninterrupted gratification; whilst the 
momentary pain of sudden and unexpected death is 
an evil infinitely small, in comparison with the enjoy- 
ments of which it is the termination." 

Jane. Believe me, Charles, this has been to me 
the most interesting of our evenings ; until now the 
earth seemed to present a scene of perpetual warfare 
and carnage. The lion and the tiger and the leopard 
doing for the beasts of the forest, what man is every- 
where doing to his fellow man. 

Char. And there is another view, my dear Jane. 
If lions, tigers, sharks, saurians, and even pike, had 
not existed — if there had not only been the aged 



64 EVENING THE ELEVENTH. 

and feeble, but also the voung and stronsr and health v r 
destroyed — they would have increased infinitely faster 
than their food ; they would ever be on the very 
verge of famine. 

Mr. R. Oh it 's a beautiful law ! as beneficent and 
kind, to the right-thinking mind, as the dew and the 
rain and the sunshine. 

Kate. And hi the ocean — in the old ocean espe- 
cially — warm as were its waters, and genial to reptile 
life, this same "police of nature/' as it has been 
beautifully called, was doubly necessary in an ocean 
whose waters were ever crowded with myriads of 
animated beings, the pleasures of whose life are 
co-extensive with its duration. 

Char. Let me again quote. " Life to each indi- 
vidual is a scene of continued feasting, in a region of 
plenty ; and when unexpected death arrests its course, 
it repays with small interest the large debt which it 
has contracted to the common fund of animal nutri- 
tion, from whence the materials of its body have 
been derived. Thus the great drama of universal 
life is perpetually sustained ; and though the indi- 
vidual actors undergo continual change, the same 
parts are ever filled by another and another genera- 
tion ; renewing the face of the earth, and the bosom 
of the deep, with endless successions of life and hap- 
piness/' 

Mr. R. If no other sentences had been penned, the 
1000/. given by the late Earl of Bridgewater to the 
learned Doctor would have been well bestowed. I 
fear we must separate. Good night, God bless you 
all ; to-morrow we will proceed with the ocean as a 
fish's battle-field. 



65 



EVENING XII 



THE OCEAN AS A FISHES BATTLE-FIELD. 



Jane. Do you ever regret, Lucy, the many happy 
hours we have spent with Charles \ Do you ever 
wish for the gaiety of a large city — the ball — the 
theatre ? 

Lucy. To tell you the truth, Jane, the first few 
days disappointed me greatly ; but now, the moment 
I rise I am unhappy till the time for strolling with 
Charles arrives, and I now feel no feeling but happi- 
ness, mixed with the saddening thought that it cannot 
last long. 

Jane. But, my dear Lucy, Charles will now be 
ever with us. Our former tastes and pursuits were 
so trifling, so unlike his, that his letters were few 
and far between. He now feels, as he says, that he 
has three sisters to whom he can unbosom himself, 
to whom he can communicate the discovery of other 
extinct creations. Besides, we hope in a few months 
to travel with him. 

Kate. Oh, Jane, what strange creatures we are ! 
A few weeks since, it would have been a wearisome 
task to wander over hill and vallev in search of fossil 

m 

remains ; but now r — But Charles is himself just at 
the door. 

Char. I have been thinking, Jane, if 150 species 
of shark, voracious fishes, a mixture of shark and 

g 2 



66 EVENING THE TWELFTH. 

lizard, gigantic ichthyosauri. &c, were necessary to 
keep down the teeming fertility of the ancient 
oceans, what enormous numbers of fishes must have 
lived in them ! 

Jane. I had been taught to think the dark 
unfathomed depths of the ocean were sterile and 
solitary ; and if fish were only in the ocean as food for 
man, there would be no need to people its depths : 
but as the remains of fishes, devoured by these 
prodigiously ferocious reptiles, have been employed 
in building up the ocean-hills, ere the waters retired 
and left them dry land, the waters that even now cover 
three-fourths of the globe must be crowded with life. 

Char. Yes, and perhaps more abundantly than the 
air and the surface of the earth; and the bottom of the 
sea probably swarms with countless hosts of worms 
and creeping things — all living their appointed time, all 
destroying others feebler than themselves, and then 
falling a prey to others still stronger and more 
ferocious. 

Mr. R. Recent discoveries have shown the more 
terrific of the reptile tribe to be feeders upon their 
own offspring and species. As the ocean was the 
agent in building up a new earth, it is filled with 
myriads of happy beings. The destruction of 
these is the office and end of the lives of others; 
and there are contrivances the most wonderful to 
bring this about. In the dreadful conflicts that 
must have marked that era, teeth must have been 
broken, new ones sprang up in their stead, and the 
jaw containing them was braced and strengthened by 
a contrivance the most perfect and complete. 



67 



EVENING XIII. 

THE OCEAN AS FERTILISER. 



Char, We have hitherto viewed the ocean under 
aspects, new indeed to the girls, but somewhat stale 
and old to geologists. The subject for this evening 
is new to me. 

Mr. R. And also to me. I was induced to name 
it from the number of vessels that have landed laden 
with guano — the excrement of sea birds, found on 
barren and desert rocks, two or three hundred feet 
thick. 

Char. Another instance of the glorious part the 
ocean is destined to play in fertilising a worn-out 
and exhausted world. Every one knows the sugar 
estates in the West Indies are incapable of producing 
sugar as they were wont to do ; but who could ever 
have dreamed that the sea birds were treasuring up a 
manure so precious, that after paying its freightage 
across the sea, it still left a large profit to the owner? 

Jane. But, Charles, what has the sea to do with 
it ? The birds are sea birds, to be sure. 

Kate. Oh, Jane, you know they drink sea water. 

Char. And eat sea fish. Fish has long been 
known to be of high utility to barren lands, when 
spread upon it ; but the process was tedious and 
offensive, and the capture of the necessary quantity 



68 EVENING THE THIRTEENTH. 

at the proper season very uncertain. You recollect, 
Jane, what has already been said relative to the 
solid rocks we have seen being composed of the waste 
of older rocks ? there is the same law in operation 
here. 

Jane. I see, my dear Charles ! Everything is 
treasured up in the ocean, and converted into some- 
thing that conduces to the welfare and happiness of 
man. This is an instance of beneficence and care 
for man that strikes me as wonderful ! 

Char. When sailing at early dawn, I have seen 
myriads of gulls start suddenly from a solitary rock : 
and when I left Edinburgh, in 1838, we passed Ailsa 
Craig at night, and when a gun was fired, an immense 
flock of sea-fowl left their secret hiding-places. J 
have seen thousands of penguins stand, like ocean 
sentinels, to guard the lonely steep upon which they 
lived ; and solan geese in such incalculable numbers, 
that to guess at their number would be folly. A 
man might ask himself, of what use are all these 
sea birds ? 

Mr. R. Seeing that they fly from the habitation 
of man, and live only upon steeps that are all but 
inaccessible. 

Char. It is a beautiful instinct that urges them 
to select homes on the naked and barren rock, sur- 
rounded by the ocean for their feeding-place ; and 
the contemplation of this, as of every other ocean- 
work, fills the mind with feelings of wonder and 
delight. Here is a screaming sea-gull, scudding 
before the wind — there an island, once of unbounded 
fertility; but every law of nature being disregarded, 



THE OCEAN AS FERTILISED. 69 

every product being sent away, and nothing in return 
brought back to fertilise, its fruits grow smaller and 
smaller — its products diminish, till ruin overtakes 
the cultivator, and he abandons it in despair — too 
poor to bring the rich composts from other lands, 
and too ignorant to look to science for a remedy. 
A solitary boat, manned by two active adventurous 
striplings, watch the sea-bird to its rocky home — 
climb the heights, with all the adventurous hardi- 
hood of youth, and find a strange mixture of dead 
birds and a substance having the odour of the com- 
mon smelling-salts. A few handfuls are placed in 
their little barque, merely to induce those at home to 
believe their wild narrative, which is thrown as 
useless into the garden or field. The elixir vita?, 
that professed to bestow immortal health, and the 
philosopher's stone, that was to transmute every- 
thing into gold, were valueless compared to this 
discovery. Unfruitful lands soon become fertile — 
corn, and wine, and oil, again gladden the heart of 
the husbandman — ships from all nations bring their 
costly merchandise in exchange for its fruits ! And 
all this the result of a pair of sea-gulls, a pair of 
solan geese, having flown to a barren rock, that 
stood like an old castle out of the sea, every- 
body wondering, as they sailed past, why it came 
there. 

Jane. Kate, what are you laughing at ? 

Kate. I hardly dare tell you, Jane ; that is to say, I 
hardly dare tell that grave young gentleman by your 
side. 

Char. And why not to me, Miss Kitty ? 



70 EVENING THE THIRTEENTH. 

Kate. You are such a very learned person, that I 
am almost afraid of thinking when you are here, lest 
you should guess what it was about. 

Char, Permit me to observe, Miss, that Jane's 
question, "What you were laughing at?" remains 
unanswered. 

Kate. Oh, it 's no use making a fuss about nothing : 
I merely laughed at the oddity of manure being 
a subject for discussion among young ladies — nothing 
more. 

Mr. R. Oh ! modern young ladies are so very 
very sensitive, so mincingly delicate, that such com- 
mon things as a " new manure' furnished by the sea, 
and procured from off a sterile and dangerous coast, 
must not be alluded to in their hearing ! " To the 
pure all things are pure," Kate. Alack-a-day ! 
Charles, the age is becoming so full of a sickening 
and maudlin sentimentality, that a vessel loaded with 
this guano would throw a bevy of fine ladies into 
hysterics, if it sailed " between the wind and their 
nobility/' 



71 



EVENING XIV. 

THE EARTH AS RENOVATOR, 



On the morning of this day all was hustle and 
preparation. The next three days were fixed for a 
coasting party. To Kate was consigned the com- 
missariat department ; and, hy the quantity of 
provisions stowed away in hampers, she evidently 
contemplated squalls and other dangers that befal 
those who go down to the great deep. Charles and 
Jane held up their hands with astonishment, and 
ventured to inquire, whether she contemplated the 
whole party being cast away on some desolate island. 

Undismayed by their remarks, she too well un- 
derstood the voracity of a sea-appetite to be at all 
regardful. Pile after pile was packed up, and 
carefully stowed away in the cabin of the beautiful 
little boat that was to carry them. 

A party of young friends were to join them : and, 
during the hurry of preparation, Charles, his father, 
and Jane, held a council to arrange a little programme 
of the route and proceedings. 

The first difficulty was the new-comers : what 
was to be done with them ? To make it a purely 
scientific and geological sea-tour, would have no in- 
terest for them ; and, on the other hand, to spend the 
whole time in frivolity and gaiety would not do for 
Charles or Jane. At last Jane hit upon a notable 



72 EVENING THE FOURTEENTH. 

plan that seemed to meet the difficulty. She proposed 
that Charles should deliver three Popular Lectures on 
Geology, illustrated by specimens, with which she 
was sure the visitors would be delighted, and which 
would, moreover, prepare them to feel interested with 
the " Evenings at Sea" which were on no account 
to be intermitted. The morning to be spent in 
sailing from place to place, looking at everything 
worthy of observation ; in the afternoon, under a 
large awning, the party were to assemble to hear the 
Lecture ; then there was to be a stroll in the evening, 
and then the peculiar business — the Discussion. 

Her father and Charles were delighted with this 
plan, and the latter suggested that, on the first 
evening, " The Ocean as Renovator" should form 
the subject ; and on the second, " The Ocean as 
Destroyer ;" and Jane insisted upon having " The 
Ocean as Island-Maker" for the third. 

All being assembled, the boat danced merrily o'er 
the waters, " like a thing of life," and all glided on 
as happily as light and jocund hearts could make them. 

They sailed past the old ruins at H — , and landed 
for a few minutes to allow Charles to sketch and 
examine them. It was with no little wonder and 
astonishment that the F/s and M.'s who were of the 
party heard that the stones of which the old castle 
had been built were formed out of broken shells at 
the bottom of the sea ; and one young lady's face had 
something upon it very like an unbelieving sneer, 
when Charles having asked if she knew who built this 
old baronial hall ? and having received for an answer, 
" the architect, she supposed," mildly said, "No, Miss, 
the Ocean built it all." There would be no interest in 



THE EARTH AS RENOVATOR. *J3 

recording how they fared and how they sang : suffice 
it to say, Kate's good cheer gave ample satisfaction, 
At last the word was given for a general clearance of 
the deck. The awning was drawn up; by four 
o'clock all was anxiety to see Charles mount the 
little rostrum which had been built under the 
special superintendence of Jane. 

It was a beautiful sight, and a new, to see that 
happy group ! For Charles, his father and two 
younger sisters had no anxieties. His thorough 
knowledge of what he was about to teach, and the 
facility of expression that was his most gifted attribute, 
convinced them that he would acquit himself well. 
But Jane had other reasons for anxiety, as she alone 
knew that in the midst of that little audience was 
one for whom she already felt a more than sisters 
love, and who had recently slightly weaned Charles 
from his excessive attachment to studies of this 
nature. At length, all being ready, he bounded 
laughingly into his little pulpit, and began with the 
old introduction : — 



Ladies and Gentlemen, 

If, instead of being a fidgetty young lady, 
Kitty had been a lean, shrivelled old woman, perhaps 
an Egyptian queen ! rolled all around her with spicy 
bandages — in a word, if she were an Egyptian mummy, 
instead of a laughing girl, what interest would be felt ! 
how anxiously would every one peep over the others 
shoulder, to see every part of the process of unrolling 
her ! 

Kate. I presume, Sir, you are speaking for your- 

H 



74 EVENING THE FOURTEENTH. 

self? I have no curiosity, even for a queen- 
mummy. 

Mr. R. Pray, Kitty, remember, lecturers allow 
no interruptions. 

K Thank you. 

Char. And if a locust, or a beetle, or a pin, three 
thousand years old, were to drop from the folds, how 
curiously would you examine them ! Or if her 
name were marked on any portion of her dress, how 
greatly would the sort of stitch and the nature of the 
thread interest you ! And yet, believe me, these 
things are trifling and insignificant, compared to what 
I have to show you. 

For the convenience, however, of those who have 
not made the science of Geology their study, I shall 
divide the three lectures into — 

1. The Facts. 

2. The Inferences. 

3. Probable Theories. 

4. Less Probable Theories. 

We have to do to-night with the real, undoubted 
facts of Geology. The facts to which I shall call 
your attention, are — 

1. Central Heat. 

2. Stratification of Rocks. 

3. Order of Superposition of Rocks. 

4. Fossil Remains. 

5. Fossil Remains vary in different Rocks. 

6. Primary rocks unstratified. 

7. Violent Upheavings of Land. 

8. That all these go on now. 

9. That the bones of man, and animals fitted for his 






THE EARTH AS RENOVATOR. 75 

use, are nowhere found in the primary, secondary, or 
tertiary formations. 

The first fact, then, is the existence of Central 
Heat. This is as certain as that the sun set last 
night and rose again this morning. The early 
miner well knew, the deeper he worked the warmer 
the air he breathed. And the pitmen know well, 
that the deeper the coal runs, the warmer is the 
water that gushes from the rock. In deep borings 
for wells, it is a well known fact that the tem- 
perature increases 1 degree in every 45 feet. The 
geysers, or hot springs in Iceland, prove it ; as do 
the depths of the very sea on which we are now re- 
posing. Central Heat — a heated centre of the earth 
— is therefore a well-established fact. 

Mr. R. What say you, Charles, to allowing the 
ladies to ask questions, between the divisions of 
your facts ? 

Kate. Thank you, thank you, father. All who 
are for the ladies talking now and then, signify the 
same by holding up their hands. Who seconds my 
motion ? Come, Jane. 

Jane. I do. 

Kate. Carried unanimously. Well, Charles, we 
will be merciful to you. Not more than three of 
us -hall talk at the same time. Here's a young 
I**dy here, sitting by me, dying to know how hot 
ihr centre of the earth is ; and another, what is the 
nature of the burning things there; and — 

Char. Oh ! Kate, pray stop, whilst I tell you I 
know nothing about either. 

Kate. Just one more, my dear boy. Are not we 



76 EVENING THE FOURTEENTH. 

in danger of being scorched, if there should be a 
large crack in the earth ? It s really quite alarming ! 

Char. Why, a crack of sufficient depth to let out 
the imprisoned heat of the inner earth, is an earth- 
quake or a volcano, and both of these we are mer- 
cifully freed from here. But we must hasten on to 
the second fact — 

The Stratification of Rocks — a hard word, ladies, 
and simply meaning that the rocks are composed of 
layers, one lying upon the other. Here are many 
fragments of rock, all having lines darker or fainter, 
or something to show they were formed layer upon 
layer. Coal will split but one way, nor will slate, 
nor many other rocks. The second fact, that many 
rocks are layer-like made, or stratified, is as un- 
doubted as the first. 

No question ? Then I hasten on to the third fact — 

That the order in which these rocks are laid upon 
each other never varies. Rock A always lies above 
B ; C above D ; E, F, G always above H, I, J, and 
so on ; and this has never been found otherwise in 
the whole habitable world. The last two facts are 
strikingly apparent in the cliff just at our boat's 
stern — layer after layer of different- coloured rock. 
Do you see them, Jane % 

Jane. Oh, perfectly, Charles. 

Char. And probably there are the same layers of 
rock on the opposite coast. Our fourth fact is, the 
existence of fossil remains in rocks. No one in their 
senses can doubt this. Every marble chimney-piece 
shows it. Limestone is almost wholly composed of 
the remains of animals and fishes; and the chalk 



THE EARTH AS RENOVATOR. 77 

itself, so abundant here, is supposed to be made of 
fossil shells. 

Kate. What ! these immensely high cliffs formed 
of shells ? Impossible. 

Char. Impossible, Miss, is not a geological word. 
But we must hasten on to the fifth established fact 
in Geology — 

That the fossil remains differ in different strata ; 
that is, that the bones and shells of animals and fish 
in rock A are unlike those in rock C and B, and 
differ slightly from those in rock B, whilst those in 
rocks X, Y, Z are totally unlike those first named. 
To-morrow morning we will look over Cuvier's mag- 
nificent volume, and I will explain this more fully. 
I wait for questions. 

Mr. R. The ladies, generally, I think, will prefer 
questioning Jane when we are gone, Charles. She, 
you know, is the depository of all your secrets. 

Char. Be it so. The sixth fact is, that the 
rocks, the lowest down in the series — the T, U, V, 
W, X, Y, and Z rocks — are not stratified, not in 
layers, have no remains, no shells, no fishes. But we 
must hasten to a close. I fear I am wearying you. 

Jane. Oh, no ! dear Charles. We are all listening 
with breathless anxiety. Pray do not think so for a 
moment. 

Char. The seventh fact is, that there have been 
violent upheavings of land — by earthquakes, vol- 
canoes, and other causes ; as we shall show when we 
treat upon the ocean as Volcano-lighter and as 

h 2 



78 EVENING THE FOURTEENTH. 

Earth-quaker, in one of our forthcoming " Evenings 
at Sea '— 

The eighth fact being, that this tremendous action 
goes on in a minor degree now; which will also be 
fully explained. 

And ninthly ', that the bones of man have never been 
found imbedded in any of these rocks ; nor have the 
animals, such as the horse, and cow, and sheep, most 
useful to him. This, ladies, is the most astounding 
discovery of modern Geology, because it denotes that 
man and all the animals, and probably many of the 
fishes, were created six thousand years ago — exactly 
in accordance with the Mosaic narrative. (Applause.} 

Jane. Thank you, dear Charles. This is a point 
that I could almost rise and speak upon myself. 
Oh ! I love to dream over a slowly-forming world 
ripening into beauty and fitness for mans habitation ; 
I rejoice that all the terrible monsters were extinct 
when our antediluvian forefathers were created ; and 
I fervently believe that a new earth, far more lovely 
and beautiful than Eden itself, is now slowly forming 
beneath our feet — an earth where guilt and crime, 
and hatred and malice and envy, will never enter. 

Mr. R. Why, Jane, who ever suspected you of 
all this visionary enthusiasm ? 

Char. Oh, father, I have bitten her, and she bids 
fair to become as rabid as I was. 

Mr. R. Well, ladies, here ends our first attempt 
at lecturing. The sailors without the awning have, 
I have no doubt, been anxiously awaiting the issue. 
There is yet time for a ten-mile sail ; the wind is 
fair, and we shall reach home in time for tea. 



79 



EVENING XV. 

THE OCEAN AS RENOVATOR. 

Char. I am afraid that we have nothing very attrac- 
tive to-night. We all know, because we can see it at 
every step we take, that the ocean has ever played 
the part of destroyer, but few view it as a restorer ; 
in other words, a renovator. 

Mr. R. Except, Charles, on the floor of the ocean : 
everything is undergoing a renovation there. 

Char. And so it is upon land, although more by 
the agency of rivers running into the sea than by the 
ocean itself. 

Mr. R. The very place where we landed to-night is 
a case in point. The harbour is nearly " silted up," as 
it is called ; and it is well known that at the mouths 
of many rivers, where the tides are feeble, a bar of 
sand or mud is formed at points where the velocity of 
the turbid river is checked by the sea, or where the 
river and a marine current neutralise each other's 
force. 

Jane. When I was in Norfolk last year I saw a 
quantity of posts or piers driven into the land, and 
then bound together with osiers or some other con- 
trivance of the sort : this acted as your bar of sand, 
I imagine, Charles, for it retarded the flow of the 
tides, and covered the sands with a soft sea- mud. 



80 EVENING THE FIFTEENTH. 

Char, All estuaries have a natural tendency to silt 
up, owing to the opposition of the tides and the river 
current. But for this, the river mouths, where they 
enter the sea, would become deeper and wider. 

Jane, If the sea be continually gaining on the 
land on the one coast, is it not as constantly receding 
from it on the other; so that, after all, there is about 
the same quantity of land and water ? 

Char. I believe the sea is enlarging its boundaries 
more rapidly than the land ; still the gain of land 
from the ocean is undoubtedly great ; and there 
can be no doubt but that the Baltic, the Adri- 
atic Seas, and the Arabian Gulf, are gradually 
growing up. 

Mr. R. I presume, Charles, there can be no 
doubt of the fact, that there has been an extraordi- 
nary gain of land at the head of the Ked Sea ? 

Char. Not the slightest. In 1842, w T hen I was 
there, the Isthmus of Suez had more than doubled 
its breadth since the time 01 Herodotus. In his time, 
and down to that of Arrian, Heropolis was on the 
coast ; now it is as far distant from the Red Sea as 
from the Mediterranean. Suez, in 1541, received 
into its harbour the fleet of Solyman II., but it is 
now changed into a sand-bank; and the country 
called Tehama, on the Arabian side of the Gulf, has 
increased from three to six miles since the Chris- 
tian era. 

Mr. R. And there are other inland ports and 
ruined towns, which were once on the sea shore, and 
bore the same names. 



THE OCEAN AS RENOVATOR. 81 

Kate. The ocean seems to me to be a great 
robber. 

Char. And it is also the receiver of stolen goods. 
The mud stolen from the banks of the Thames is 
carried to some distant lands, and the blocks and 
boulders of Norway are rolled upon our coasts. 

Jane. Do you recollect, Charles, when we were 
in Cambridgeshire last, that we saw a number of 
men throwing a clay upon the land, dug up from 
considerable depths? 

Char. Perfectly, Jane ; and I said then, from exa- 
mination, that it was sea- mud. I have since learnt 
that, under the influence of this sea -mud, the land 
has become prodigiously fertile. 

Kate. But how came the sea-mud there ? 

Char. The same way as the ocean water. The 
lower part of Cambridgeshire was one of the great 
outlets to the sea. When the land-floods and the 
tidal waters were high, they would mingle together. 
A sand-bar, or any other barrier that would check 
the rapid flowing back of the tide, would flood the 
whole land, and then the thin stratum of clay or sea- 
mud would be thrown down. 



82 



EVENING XVL 

THE OCEAN AS DESTROYER. 



The experimental lecture of the preceding day 
being thoroughly successful, the whole party looked 
eagerly forward to the hour when Charles would 
recommence. The morning was spent as happily as 
mornings always are, where all are intelligent and 
desirous of pleasing. StoDes and sea- weed were 
brought by the visitors in abundance for the inspec- 
tion of Charles, who could always find proofs of 
Infinite wisdom and design in the most worthless 
pebble or the commonest sea- weed; and long ere the 
evening arrived, the awning was raised, and the con- 
versation chiefly turned upon the lecture and occur- 
rences of yesterday. 

Precisely at the appointed hour he commenced his 
second attempt, by calling their attention to the 
Second Division of the subject, 

The Inferences to be drawn fgom the before- 
mentioned facts : — 

The fi?*st being, that this earth was originally 
covered with water. Of this there was the most 
abundant proofs. The very existence of rocks in 
layers, or stratified all over the earth, prove that 
they must have been deposited there by water. 

The second inference is, that the temperature of 
the ancient earth must have been much higher than 



THE OCEAN AS DESTROYER. 83 

at present. This is proved by the fossil bones of 
animals, and the fossil fruits and leaves and stems of 
plants, being found in the latest-formed rocks just 
under the soil. Animals that would die in a climate 
as cold as ours, and plants that can only now be 
found in the Torrid Zone, or in hot-houses ; in fact, 
all the plants of which coal is composed, were of 
species never found but in the hottest climates. 

The third inference is, that this earth was slowly 
formed for the habitation of man. The very appear- 
ance of the layers in many of the rocks, the delicate 
shells, and leaves of plants, prove how slowly they 
must have been formed. 

The fourth inference is by far the most important. 
It is this : that the comfort and happiness of man was 
the object and design of all this arrangement. " I can 
never bring myself to think of this glorious part of 
our magnificent subject," said Charles, glowing with 
enthusiasm, u without feeling ennobled with the 
thought that I am one of those happy beings for 
whom this earth and all its buried treasures har> been 
fashioned. I have often thought, if a palace had been 
begun to be built for a prince in the year 1744, and 
that it was to be completed in the present month, 
August, 1844, and that its occupant was to be born 
on this very 12th of August, with what interest 
would all the crowds of visitors look upon an edifice 
that had been one hundred years building ! and how 
anxious would every one be to catch even a moment's 
glimpse of the royal babe within ! But if, instead 
of being one hundred years in building, it had been 
begun by our Saxon ancestors, eontinued by the 



84 EVENING THE SIXTEENTH. 

Norman conquerors, and that even in the midst of 
the wars of the Red and White Roses, still the palace- 
building never ceased — that the troubles of Charles's 
time never checked it — that Oliver Cromwell added 
to it — how intense would he the interest with which 
we should view it, and with what awe would all 
nations look upon its inhabitant ! And, to heighten 
the reverential feeling, if the tradition ran, that from 
the olden times the kings and queens of remote nations 
had sent gold and silver, and ivory, and pearls, and 
precious things, to adorn and beautify it, the mind 
seems unable to grasp so magnificent a thought. 
And yet all this is nothing to what the Creator has 
done for man, in the preparation of this earth as an 
abode for man. Foreseeing how helpless man would 
be in the midst of the monsters that peopled this 
earth in its infancy, He delayed his creation till they 
were extinct, and until a 'new earth,' clad with 
verdure, was partly formed of their colossal ruins — 
until all the animals that minister to his wants and 
gratifications could roam about in peace. Foreseeing 
his wants, ironstone and coal, and tin, and copper, 
and lead, were formed myriads of years before he 
was created. Stone of every quality was slowly 
growing solid, ages before man required a habitation ; 
and the coral and other insects were building moun- 
tains of limestone in eras so remote from the present, 
that the mind reels under the attempt to measure 
the time. Surely I may be pardoned for saying, 
that all this vast preparation could never be for man, 
if he were to perish as the brute beast/' 

Mr. R. Thank you, Charles. Man is, indeed, 
a noble creature, destined for glorious purposes, even 



THE OCEAN AS DESTROYER. 85 

upon this earth ; but also destined for higher ends in 
another world. It is evident that there have been vast 
and constant changes since the first germs of our 
present globe were created. Do you think, Charles, 
that after the next great change, it will still be the 
abode of animated beings \ 

Char. I do indeed think it will. All this vast 
amount of creative power never can be lost or de- 
stroyed. I fondly hope and believe that the next 
great change will fit this earth for far nobler and 
purer beings — men who have regained the lost image 
of God — who shall walk through the whole earth as 
one vast Eden, where sin and sorrow, and selfishness 
and remorse, shall never mar their happiness ! 



END OF SECOND LECTURE. 



86 



EVENING XVII. 

THE OCEAN AS DESTROYER. 



Kate, I am sure, Jane, I would rather hear Charles 
lecture to-night, than discuss any subject. 

Jane. But pray, my dear girl, have a little mercy 
upon him. I am convinced that the subject of this 
evening will interest you greatly. 

Kate, Yes, Jane, it would before yesterday. But 
after what we have heard this afternoon of the glo- 
rious purposes for which this earth was created, 
everything must be dull, and almost stupid. Besides, 
I know very well the ocean is a destroyer of ships, 
and boats, and rocks, and sailors, and all other 
things that are upon or near to it. 

Jane. Well, be patient, here is Charles. Charles, 
I know of no subject so calculated to alarm the ig- 
norant inhabitant of a country, as the feeling that 
the ocean is rapidly destroying portions of the lands 
and rocks that bound it. 

Mr. R. It is not a' very comfortable thought, by 
the bye, to those who profess some little acquaintance 
with these things. 

Char. Although we may call the ocean a destroyer, 
seeing that it carries away large portions of our 
coasts, it is but a borrower after all. The useless 
rock toppled down into the waves yesterday, will 



THE OCEAN AS DESTROYER. 87 

soon become the rock or sand of a new earth now 
in progress of making. 

Kate, Charles ! Charles! impossible ! What can 
the chalk cliff that fell into the sea last year have 
to do with a new earth, even supposing the said new 
earth to be in process of forming? — which I never can 
believe to be the case, notwithstanding all you have 
yet said on that subject. 

Char. Jane ! Jane ! surely all that you have 
heard and seen of late has convinced you of this 
one simple truth — that this earth is slowly melting 
away, and that a new earth, with its marbles, its 
coal, and its rocks, is as slowly forming ? 

Jane, I believe, Charles, she is affecting to be 
ignorant. Come, Kate, you wilful girl, is it not so ? 

Kate. I have forgotten all about rocks, and 
granites, and gneiss. Fossil remains interest me 
not. Porphyries and jaspers are become vain things 
to me. 

Mr, R, Heigho ! Kate among the philosophers ! 
Pray, my dear girl, what has brought about this 
change ? . W hat can have robbed all these things of 
their interest ? 

Jane, Oh, father, she is quite enraptured with 
" new creations, and extinctions of races" long before 
man, and with the length of time employed in pre- 
paring this earth for mans resting-place — for what 
she calls the " Poetry of Geology/' 

Char, That is to say, she loves the ideal better 
than the real. Come, my dear Kitty, let me give you 
one piece of advice : — Store up every fact in Geology 



88 EVENING TEE SEVENTEENTH. 

before you begin to theorise, and you will then revel 
in the midst of theories and speculations as useful as 
they are astounding. 

Mr. R. Come, Charles, we at least are anxious to 
hear what you have to say about the ocean as a 
destroyer. 

Char. I might take up the whole evening with 
telling you of its destructive powers. Bring the 
map, Kate, and find the Shetland Islands : there can 
nowhere be seen the destructive effects of the sea- 
wave more than there. 

Mr. R. I recollect being particularly struck with 
the steepness of the cliffs, which are everywhere 
hollowed out into deep caves and lofty arches — 
almost every promontory ending in a cluster of 
rocks imitating columns, pinnacles, and obelisks. 

Jane. How is that to be accounted for, Charles ? 
One would have supposed that the action of the 
waves and tides would have destroyed the rocky 
coast equally. 

Char. So it would, Jane, if the composition and 
nature of the rocks had been similar, which is not 
the case. In some parts of the coast the rock is 
granite, in others gneiss, mica, slate, serpentine, and 
greenstone : all stones, as you well know, hard enough 
to resist tides for ages. 

Mr. R. They certainly have a fair trial of their 
enduring qualities there, for they are exposed to the 
uncontrolled violence of the Atlantic, and there is no 
land between them and America. 

Char. And the prevailing westerly gales must aid in 



THE OCEAN AS DESTROYER. 89 

destroying them, by dashing the sea spray over 
them. 

Kate. But I do not see how the columns, and 
pinnacles, and obelisks, are made by the sea. 

Char. Nor should I be able to tell you if all the 
coast were composed of hard rock. On the con- 
trary, when they were formed, under a sea far more 
ancient than the one that is now destroying them, 
there were mingled with them softer rocks, such as 
sandstone, &c. 

Kate. Oh ! I see ; and they are more easily carried 
away by the sea. Very simple. The soft rock being 
gone, a cave or a pinnacle may readily be made. 

Char. But the sea also removes immense masses 
of rock on the same coast. Huge blocks of stone 
have been carried to distances quite incredible. 

Mr. R. It would be wearisome to point out every 
instance on the map where the sea has for ages been 
destroying coast-rocks. Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, 
and especially Norfolk, all are gradually falling a 
prey to the ocean. It is far more interesting to 
leave the present and look at the past. 

Char. It is indeed. Suppose, as was probably the 
case, the earth was formed flat, and smooth, and 
level, the ocean has been the instrument by which 
the valley has been scooped out — by which the 
mountains has been piled up. France and England 
were probably one part of the same continent. The 
ocean, in furtherance of the divine Architect's plans, 
dug out the channel, and, by making this portion of 

i 2 



90 EVENING THE SEVENTEENTH. 

land insular, bestowed upon it all its greatness and 
its strength. 

Kate, And to where, do you imagine, the ocean 
has carried all the rock and earth that formerly con- 
nected us with France ? 

Char. Filled up many an ocean valley ; or, per- 
haps, closed some vast chasm in the floor of the 
ocean, through which agents the most destructive to 
animal life found entrance. 

Jane. Do you mean sea-earthquakes, if I may use 
such a strange expression \ 

Char. Yes. Perhaps all that is now upon the 
earth — if not all, certainly a portion — has been ejected 
from the centre, and therefore there may be supposed 
to have been vast chasms and hollows, gigantic cham- 
bers, through which the earthquake-thunder would 
reverberate from pole to pole. 

Mr. R. Beautiful, Charles, as a theory, and not 
very inconsistent with facts. 

Char. There can be no doubt of the fact, that in 
regions less blest than this, that the earth is still 
hollow, or how can the rumbling of the earthquake 
be felt and heard at such enormous distances as it is 
in volcanic regions ? I have always believed that, 
although we, in common with all other countries, 
have passed through the volcanic period, during which 
our granite mountains and hills were thrown up, yet 
that the caverned chambers have been solidified with 
the ruins of ancient rocky coasts, and that the ocean 
has been the prime agent in the destruction, as 
well as the carrier of the materials into the ocean 
depths. 



* THE OCEAN AS DESTROYER. 91 

Jane. When we were at Hull last year, the sites 
of old towns of note were pointed out to me ; one 
called Ravenspur was at one time a rival to Hull, 
and a port of such size that in 1332 Edward Baliol 
and the English barons sailed from hence to invade 
Scotland. Henry IV. in 1399 made choice of this 
port to land at to effect the deposal of Richard II.; 
yet the whole of this has been destroyed by the 
merciless ocean. 

Mr. R. Not merciless, Jane — merciful ; its whole 
end and errand is one of mercy ; every storm, every 
tempest, has a mission to fulfil, whether it be to 
topple down a cliff, or to gradually wear away the 
hardest rocks, or to spread the ocean floor with sands 
and mud ; every wave that displaces a useless atom 
here, carries it to a point where it will be useful 
hereafter ! 



92 



EVENING XVIII. 

THE OCEAN AS ISLAND MAKER, 



According to preconcerted arrangements, the whole 
party assembled at a very early breakfast. The mail 
of the preceding evening had added four visitors to 
the party, and it was matter of debate between 
Charles and Jane whether, for a few days at least, 
their " Evenings" should not be postponed ; Charles 
inclining to the opinion that it should, whilst she as 
strenuously resisted and combated every argument 
he employed to convince her. The morning, cloudy 
in the beginning, became gusty, and long before 
noon the rain fell heavily. 

During this "aside" discussion the matter was cut 
short by Kate, who came in person to present a peti- 
tion from the visitors that Charles would resume his 
lectures ; and that above all things the evening should 
be devoted to subjects so interesting in themselves, 
and especially so to one of the visitors, who had 
recently returned from the British Association, smitten 
with a new love for everything connected with the 
structure of the earth. 

Mr. R. Say no more about it, ladies. If the day 
had been fine, one day at least must have been 
devoted to " lionising ;" but this rain, which, by the 
bye, bids fair to continue, demands that something 



THE OCEAN AS ISLAND MAKER. 93 

must be done. The subject was, " The Ocean as 
Island Maker/' 

Ladies and gentlemen, be seated. 

Char. With submission, father, I think we will 
defer that subject till evening. Our friends here 
will require some little preliminary instruction, which 
Jane, Kate, and I shall be happy to give. 

Mr. R. Agreed, Charles. I have promised to call 
upon an old friend who is unable to get out, and I 
shall turn over the ladies to you. 

It would be tedious to go over ground so recently 
trodden ; all that was interesting was explained — all 
that was amusing was laughed at with a heartiness 
that smacked of health and youthful spirits; the 
dinner bell rang loudly twice before they obeyed the 
rather unwelcome summons. 



In the evening the company assembled at an early 
hour. Kate had, by the permission of her father, 
obtained leave to have the tea brought into the room 
where they met. 

Mr. R. Charles, my old friend L has lamented 

his inability to spend an evening with us, in conse- 
quence of an attack of his old inveterate foe the gout, 
but he invites us all to dine and spend the evening 
with him to-morrow. He is devotedly attached to 
scientific pursuits, and in youth pursued them with 
an ardour and a success that brought him the friend- 
ship of men whose fame belongs to Europe — to the 
world. 



94 EVENING THE EIGHTEENTH. 

Jane. That will indeed be delightful. 

Kate. Not a whit the less, Jane, because he is a 
bachelor. 

Char. And a rich one. He is also rich in speci- 
mens, and has a cabinet of fossils of great value. We 
will certainly accept his invitation. Let me see, 
Jane, what shall be our subject ? 

Jane. Oh, I have it ; here — this — " The Ocean 
as Mermaid's Hall;" it will follow our to-night's 
subject well. 

Char, And it will be short, giving us plenty of 
time to discuss his wine and fruits, which are choice, 
and to examine all the treasures that he has collected 
with no ordinary care. 

Mr. R. I have been thinking, ladies, what wisdom 
has been displayed in the formation of islands, and 
how beautifully they were formed and fitted for man, 
when he began to acquire something more than flocks 
and herds. 

Char. As a cheap defence — as a pathway for ships 
— as a storehouse inexhaustibly supplied with food — 
the ocean was far better adapted than any other 
agent : but that is not our business to discuss to-night. 
It is the part the ocean plays in forming, not only 
the island upon which we now stand, but all the 
other islands that stud the vast oceans of the north 
and south hemispheres. 

Miss O. Jane, Charles surely does not mean to 
say that the island of Great Britain was made by the 
ocean — the German Ocean ? 

Jane. Oh yes he does, Caroline. 



THE OCEAN AS ISLAND MAKER. 95 

Miss O. Well, that is extraordinary; is it not, 
Louisa ? 

Louisa. Everything is extraordinary here, Carry ; 
nothing more so than our friends having given up 
dancing, cards, and concerts, to talk ahout old bones 
and stones, and all those sorts of things. 

Miss O. Fie, Louisa ! I know you would like to 
know how the ocean makes islands. 

Louisa. Oh, my dear girl, I know all about it. I 
have read all about coral islands and reefs, and how 
they form lagoons for sharks. JTou remember read- 
ing a beautiful description in Montgomery's " Pelican 
Island." 

Jane. Yes, Louisa, I have often admired it ; but 
there are many islands that are not coralline. 

Char. It is a very simple idea to build a coralline 
island, although man could never have dreamed of 
employing such an insignificant agent ; but in other 
islands, where there are no traces of coralline origin, 
there are, as you know, evidences of wisdom, and 
forethought, and design, a million times greater than 
merely building up an island as the coralline islands 
are built. 

Mr. R. What a wretched place would England 
have been, if its origin had been either volcanic or 
coralline ! 

Louisa. My dear Mr. R., I do not precisely see 
that; Auvergne, in France, is said to be volcanic, 
and yet it is beautiful enough. 

Mr. R. It will, perhaps, be difficult to convince 
so vivacious a young lady ; but we will, if you please, 



96 EVENING THE EIGHTEENTH. 

imagine two families leaving a shipwrecked vessel, 
the one heing thrown upon a coralline island, the 
other upon one like our own dear England. 

Louisa. Oh, my dear sir, pray do not imagine 
me to he cast ashore in the coral island; I have a 
great horror of those monstrous sharks. 

Kate. Oh ! we all thought you would prefer that 
to this. 

Louisa. Not at all, my dearest Kate; it's very 
well to sail quietly and safely into harbour, but as 
to floating on a raft into harbour with a convoy of 
sharks, pray don't mention it. 

Char. Well, at first, their cases would be nearly 
parallel ; or rather, the condition of the coral islander 
would be the more enviable. 

Kate. Why so, Charles ? 

Char. Simply — he would be warmer without fire ; 
but supposing him to have discovered that agent, as 
he would not have many wants to gratify, he would 
bask in the sunshine, and soon become little better 
than the penguin that stood upon the shore. Not so 
with the group that were thrown ashore here; the 
cold would compel them to build, and that would 
lead to wood-cutting, and brick-making, and stone- 
quarrying ; and in performing of this latter, they 
would discover the iron, the coal, the copper, the 
tin, that are found in such rich abundance here. 

Miss O. But how came the iron and the copper, 
&c. here, any more than in the coral island ? 

Char. Simply this, Caroline : that England was 
not an island from the beginning, as coral islands are, 



THE OCEAN AS ISLAND MAKER. 97 

but a portion of a vast continent, where for ages 
and ages coal, iron, tin, zinc, salt, &e. were slowly 
forming. 

Kate. But how did it become an island ? 

Char. After the ancient seas had grown the timber 
and plants of which coal is made, and carried the 
freestone, and pressed down into such perfect solidity 
the slate stones, mountains w T ere thrown up, and into 
them was thrown, with tremendous force and power, 
those valued metals, gold and silver, and copper, lead, 
and tin. So you see, dear Kate, that to make an 
island something more is required than coral insects 
or marine volcanoes, especially if it be an island like 
England, whose boundless wealth lies many fathoms 
below the surface. Many a " dark, unfathomed cave 
of ocean" has been filled with these subterranean 
riches by seas whose very inhabitants are now only 
to be found imbedded in the solid rock ; and many a 
" gem of purest ray serene" is buried far lower than 
human plummet ever sounded. 




98 



EVENING XIX. 

THE OCEAN AS MERMAID'S HALL. 



With what spirit do Time's coursers dash along 
when gay and buoyant Hope is charioteer ! Although 
Kate and Jane professed to feel no diminution of 
pleasure at the setting in of each successive evening, 
and although Charles still discoursed as eloquently 
as ever upon fossil remains, as they fell in his way, 
yet there was a brightening up, an alacrity in all 
their movements, that was visible to all, although 
remarked by no one. 

Never did a happier group bound over the green- 
sward ! never was " dull care" driven farther away ! 
The idea of quizzing the old bachelor was uppermost 
with Louisa and Kate, both insisting upon it that 
they were profound believers in the existence of 
mer-maidens and mer-men. 

Mr. L. was what, in worldly language, is called a 
" disappointed man ;" not that his happy face indi- 
cated any remaining traces of that morbid feeling, 
but he had abandoned all those amusements and 
pleasures which are considered indispensable to the 
young and wealthy. He had chosen the life of a 
solitary ; and, with the exception of Mr. R. and two 
or three choice friends, he had not, he often boasted, 
" a friend left upon earth." 

His fine fortune enabled him to gratify his taste for 



THE OCEAN AS MERMAID S HALL. 99 

costly furniture ; and his walls were hung with gems 
of ancient and modern art. But that upon which he 
prided himself most was a sort of ocean hall, com- 
posed entirely of polished stones, shells, fossils, and 
ores the most rare and costly, lying in costly confusion 
upon the marbled tables and floor. 

To this splendid room he had given the name of 
the " Mermaid's Hall ;" and with the exception of 
the friends above alluded to, and his old valet, John, 
who had accompanied him in all his travels, no one 
had hitherto been permitted to enter this part of his 
beautiful villa. 

No wonder, then, that the cheek of Charles even 
was flushed as he and his friends in succession were 
welcomed by Mr. L., as he rose with difficulty from 
his seat to receive them. 

Mr. R. We feel honoured, dear sir, in accepting 
your kind invitation ; and we have availed ourselves 
of the postscript, and have brought our daughters* 
friends, the Misses O. 

M r. L. Welcome, welcome all ! I never thought 
to have seen women — young women, too ! in this 
house ; but I am told that your tastes, and habits, 
and pursuits are congenial ; and for the sake of her 
that is gone, I again welcome you all. 

Mr. R. I have told Charles that you have known 
all our movements — the very subjects which we have 
discussed. 

Mr. L. In a word, Catherine and Jane, your 
father has been playing the part of talebearer, and 
has won my heart with his recitals of your sayings 
and doings. My old enemy had laid siege to my foot, 



100 EVENING THE NINETEENTH. 

or I should have dropped in to see and hear for 
myself. I have enjoyed solitude so long that the 
sound of female tongues almost unmans me. 

Mr. R. (aside to Charles.) Take the girls away 
for half an hour — something moves him strongly. I 
will give you a signal when to return. 

Mr. L. Excuse me ; I thought myself a man, and 
am, in truth, but a baby. Jane is the image of her 
mother and her mother's first friend. 

Mr. R. Jane and Kate are all that the fondest 
father could wish. But what distresses you so 
greatly ? 

Mr. L. Oh, nothing, nothing ! — a mere twinge of 
the mind — a recollection that was barbed like a dart. 
Call them in again : I am myself again, and must not 
delegate the hospitality of this house to that fine 
young fellow, whom you call Charles. I long to 
have some talk with him. Let the ladies see the 
housekeeper, whose presence has not been required 
here of late, John being my valet, butler, coachman, 
and housekeeper. 

Mr. R. I feel assured that this little brush will 
do you good. Man, intellectual man, was never 
meant for solitude ; and life is but a dreary passage 
through a sorrowful world, unlit up by the smiles of 
the young and happy, and uncheered by that " soft 
voice," that the most profound of observers has truly 
called " an excellent thing in woman." 

Evening stole on. Each one watched the time- 
piece narrowly, as if to chide the lagging hours. 
Charles, determining to draw the old gentleman out, 
plumed himself upon the opportunity that would be 






THE OCEAN AS MERMAID S HALL. 101 

furnished for doing so. Kate's feeling was one of 
overpowering and irrepressible curiosity. Every 
entrance-hall and staircase teemed with strange and 
wondrous things ; — but that superb " Palace of 
Shells" — the far-famed " Mermaid's Hall " — could 
she see that ? If that were invisible to her, this day 
would be nameless and blank in her calendar. 

How her heart bounded when she heard it announced 
by Charles, that their evening theme was to be dis- 
cussed in this very hall — in fact, that the old bachelor 
had been wheeled there already, and waited for their 
arrival. 

Mr. L. Charles, my dear fellow, do you believe 
in mermaids ? 

Char. No, no ! Oh, no ! • 

Mr. L. Kate, do you ? 

Kate. Oh, fervently ; and Jane, too, has a sort of 
a belief. 

Jane. It is, indeed, but a sort of belief — very in- 
distinct and glimmering. 

Mr. L. Well, I believe it firmly. I have talked with 
sailors who have seen them ; and I believe that they 
are the supreme intelligences that rule the ocean in- 
habitants, as men do the inferior creatures upon land. 

Char. But you cannot seriously entertain this 
belief? 

Mr. L. Why not ? There is nothing incredible 
nor impossible in it. These exquisite shells, that have 
grown into loveliness, would never have glowed with 
such lovely colours if the eye of some intelligent 

k 2 " 



102 EVENING THE NINETEENTH. 

ocean-being had not been destined to live and look 
upon them. 

From the earnestness with which he spoke, it was 
evident that this was one of the harmless delusions 
they had been prepared to see. A belief in the exist- 
ence of ocean-men, called mermaids and mermen, 
was so strongly impressed upon his mind, that he 
built a suite of apartments for their reception ; and 
never abandoned the hope that, some day or other, 
he would be the happy possessor of the beings he had 
so long and so earnestly coveted to see. 

The hall itself glowed with blushing and rosy- 
coloured shells : from the sparry roof hung pendent 
vast stalactites of every hue and shape, the interven- 
ing spaces sparkling with the richest metallic ores. 
The floor was entirely* composed of ammonites, ex- 
quisitely polished, and of most elaborate pattern and 
design, having the appearance of snakes of every size 
and colour, coiled up and turned into glittering metals. 
The slabs were of the purest white Carrara marble, 
supported by irregularly-shaped blocks of marble, 
from jet-black to that which is little more than a con- 
glomerate mass of broken shells. From the centre 
swung a candelabrum, composed entirely of shells, 
the lamps burning from the pearly nautili, that served 
admirably for that purpose. The walls were covered 
with thin slabs of every species of granite, freestone, 
and shale — the latter polished and shining like a 
burnished mirror. 

And this was the " Mermaid's Hall," thought 
Charles, and this is the delusion for which L. has lost 
caste with society — for which he lost her for whom 
he lived ; and in losing her, lost everything besides. 



THE OCEAN A3 ^RMaID's HALL. 103 

Who, in early youth, has not built a " Mermaid's 
Hall*' as useless, as unsubstantial, as unreal as this ? 
How many day-dreams of happinesses to come, to be 
enjoyed, vanish into thin air at the cold touch of the 
real world without, bursting, like the child's bubble, 
just as the light had begun to play upon its surface ! 

The party being seated upon chairs, fashioned after 
the most grotesque patterns, Charles was called upon 
hy Mr. L. to introduce the promised subject, which 
he instantly responded to by proposing 

* The Ocean as a Shell Factory" 






104 



EVENING XX. 

THE OCEAN AS A SHELL FACTORY. 



Char. Of all the aspects under which the sea can 
be viewed, there is nothing more attractive than the 
thought, that within its depths, of its materials, and 
by its inhabitants, these beautiful shells are fashioned. 

Mr. R. Come here, Kate and Louisa; on this large 
slab are some of the most extraordinary — on the adja- 
cent one, some of the most beautiful. 

Mr. L. Oh, ladies, some of those are from seas 
recently dredged for shells : they are too new yet to 
name. 

Char. What a treat for conchologists ! Quite apart 
from the beauty they give, they afford the finest 
pleasure to him who has made this branch of science 
his peculiar study, 

Jane. What is to me a matter of special wonder 
is, that the outside markings — the form of the waving 
lines — never vary in the same species. I hardly 
know how to express myself, but if you will turn to 
the beautiful plates in Buckland, you will see at once 
what 1 mean. The Nautilus striatus has everywhere 
the same outer marks, and so has Nautilus obtusus ; 
but what I mean is beautifully seen in the variations 
of forms of Ammonite in the 37th plate. 

Mr. L. Oh, Jane ! you may well wonder : but it 



THE OCEAN AS A SHELL FACTORY. 105 

is no more extraordinary in shells than in fishes, and 
plants, and flowers. One would have thought the 
pattern of the shell of an animal in the sea might 
have varied in every possible way. If the formation 
of the most insignificant shell, or animal, or plant 
were but for one hour left to chance, the creations of 
that hour would exhibit the most monstrous and 
incongruous shapes that imagination could picture. 

Char. The sameness of shells does indeed prove the 
existence of a creative Power — sleepless, unwearied, 
eternal ! 

Louisa. Pray, Charles, let us pass on. I want to 
look over all the lovely things here. The night will 
be all spent in talking, and to-morrow we shall all 
regret that we saw but a small portion of the treasures 
of this room. 

Mr. R. Suppose we allow each individual to do as 
he or she pleases ? My old friend and I shall cer- 
tainly sit here — he enchained by the gout, and I by 
the almost magical effect of the lustres and stalac- 
tites from the roof. Charles, gallantry requires you 
there. Show cause why you remain with us. 

Char. Oh, father ! Jane is an admirable cicerone 
since she has learnt some of the most common shells 
— they prefer her to me. 

Mr. L. The most extraordinary, as well as unac- 
countable thing to me, is the enormous quantity of 
lime that must have been in ancient seas. 

Char. There can be no doubt but that it was a 
volcanic product, and that, as sea-volcanoes must 
have been of very frequent occurrence, immense 
portions must have been mingled with the waters. 



106 EVENING THE TWENTIETH. 

Mr. R. From which the marine animals found 
lime to fabricate their shells. 

Mr. L. But it is a difficult problem, to account for 
the source of the enormous masses of chalk and 
limestone that compose one-eighth of the coast of 
the globe. 

Char. There can be no doubt but that the immense 
beds of limestone in fresh- water lakes of the tertiary 
period (that preceding man), were formed during 
seasons of intense volcanic activity. 

Char. Just glance at Jane and her party ! They 
have just discovered that the floor is entirely com- 
posed of ammonites ; they are evidently trying to 
discover if they are alike in external markings, 
although dissimilar in size. 

Jane. We are struck with the enormous variety. 

Mr. L. No two are alike in figure, although they 
be in size : of the ammonites alone there are 223 
species, varying from one inch in diameter to four 
feet. They are a splendid collection of seals, upon 
which the history of the world has been engraven ; 
and their structure is one of the most wonderful and 
intricate contrivances by w T hich a shell, the size of 
a waggon wheel, could float or sink at the will of its 
inmate. But John tells me supper awaits us. 
This has been a mere show-night. 

Under the genial influences of good cheer, this 
acquaintanceship, begun but to-day, was destined to 
extend over a few days. His old habits broken up, 
he extorted a promise from them to pay him daily 
visits till all his curiosities had been explored. 



THE OCEAN AS A SHELL FACTORY. 107 

" What you have seen to-day, is nothing compared 
to what your father and I, in days of yore, called 
c The Crocodile's Play-ground/ Be early to-morrow, 
and I will show you how, on a congenial theme, an 
old man can lecture. Saurians, you know Mr. R.," 
said he, tapping him on the shoulder, " Saurians, 
living and dead, have ever been my delight ; Charles 
Waterton himself never bestrode a living cayman 
with half th« zest that I have laboured to disentomb 
the fossil remains of this splendid group of sea- 
animals." 

There is no disputing about tastes, thought Kate ; 
this is probably another of the old beau's crotchets ! 




108 



EVENING XXL 

THE CROCODILE'S PLAYGROUND, 



The strange sights and scenes of yesterday had 
been the theme of general conversation : the courtesy 
and kindness of the old gentleman were gratifying to 
the girls, whilst his intelligence and vast store of 
information were matters of especial interest to 
Charles and Mr. R. 

Char, It is a singular taste, to fit up a room with 
fossils, and shells, and stones ; to abandon all modern 
upholstery, and to frame everything out of the hewn 
rock. 

Mr. R. In itself it is beautiful, but when we 
remember that everything there — the coal, the 
stalactites, the shells, the ammonitic floor, and the 
nautili lamps — -were all formed by water, by sea- 
water, our admiration for the ocean is indeed 
heightened. 

Jane. I anticipate more to-day than yesterday. 

Louisa. And so do I, Jane. I hope some of these 
crocodiles are alive. I 'in tired of fossil this, and 
fossil that ; we shall have fossil beaux soon, I suppose \ 
though for the matter of that, the young gentlemen 
have flinty, stony, fossilised hearts already. 

Kate, Receiving no impressions, and making none. 

Char. What are you ridiculous girls laughing at ? 



THE CROCODILE'S PLAYGROUND. 109 

Kate. Louisa was just observing that she believes 
yours is a fossil heart. 

Louisa. For shame, Kate ! My curiosity simply 
extends to the wish to know whether these ante- 
diluvian monsters we are to see to-day, are alive or 
fossilised, which is 1 believe the phrase for not only 
being dead, but also buried. 

Mr. R. I am bound to secrecy. Let us take a 
long stroll over these downs, so that we may be there 
before he becomes anxious for us. 

Char. Will you oblige us, my dear father, by 
announcing our arrival in a short time ? I am 
challenged by these giddy girls to run a race with 
them down a hill. 

Jane. And Charles being half ashamed of the 
thing, as being unphilosophical, and therefore unwise, 
would fain do it as secretly as possible. These mad- 
cap girls are at the appointed place, eager for the race. 

How the race terminated — whether the philosopher 
was defeated, or whether victory sat upon his brow — 
is matter of no great public interest. At the ap- 
pointed time, the happy and excited group were 
thundering loudly at Mr. L.'s door, and were requested 
to wait a moment in the hall. 

For a moment they wondered at this uncourteous 
reception, but for a moment only, for the hall was 
gradually darkened ; and then came the creaking 
of sliding doors in all directions, and they were 
startled by the appearance of half-lit up caverns 
proceeding in all directions from the hall, as from a 
common centre. The illusion was perfect. Strange 
and monstrous creatures were dimly visible, and the 

L 



110 EVENING THE TWENTY-FIRST. 

skeletons of vast and unwieldy animals were placed 
around. 

In a moment all was flashing with a flood of light. 
" And this," said Mr. L., seated behind a sort of 
screen, " this is our 6 Crocodiles' Playground.* ,J 

Jane. Oh, Charles ! this is surely some enchant- 
ment. 

Mr. L. No ! lady, no ! It is merely a museum — 
a reptile museum — where all the Saurians, the 
gigantic lizards of the old world, are placed in a fossil 
state side by side with the crocodiles, the cay men, 
and the alligator of the present era. Lizards of all 
species, living and dead, are here. 

Char. But why hide them from public view, 
unless on special occasions ? 

Air. L. Partly for whim, which is an omnipotent 
motive with me, and partly because of their native 
hideousness. 

Louisa. But — (pray keep near me, Jane and 
Charles) — but what could induce you to frighten us ? 

Mr. L. Whim again, Miss. He who invades the 
domicile of a bachelor, must take things as he finds 
them. 

Louisa. Well, you're a horrid man, I must be 
permitted to say. I feel as if that gigantic monster, 
with those remarkably delicate-looking legs and the 
shield on his back, were not altogether safe, even to 
look at. 

Jane. Oh, the Megatherium or Giant Sloth ! 
Louisa. And that other odd-looking wretch with 



THE CROCODILE S PLAYGROUND. Ill 

his eye out certainly, but with an opening for that 
organ large enough for a good-sized tea-table. 

Char, Oh, the Ichthyosaurus. 

Louisa. If I had the naming him, I should call 
him the Pike Crocodile; no other animal of my 
acquaintance than the aforesaid pike, or jack, being 
furnished with such respectable jaws. 

Kate. And his teeth. What a dreadful creature 
he must have been ! that interesting creature with 
the long arching neck, must have been deemed an 
antediluvian beauty, in comparison. 

Jane. The Plesiosaurus ? 

Char. These creatures are the most deeply inte- 
resting — as is everything connected with the whole 
Lizard tribe. 

Mr. L. Now, dear ladies, we will adjourn to the 
drawing-room; and Charles shall tell us all he 
knows of these strange creatures. Come, Miss 
Louisa, shake hands. 

Louisa. Have you touched these monsters, the last 
week? 

Mr. L. (laughing). Why? 

Louisa. Because if you have, I wont, till I put 
my glove on. I should feel, like Lady Macbeth, 
that the "spot wouldn't come out." 

Char. You wilful creature! Let me show you 
into the room. 

Louisa. Oh ! not for worlds, Charles ! The very 
idea of even dreaming about these huge reptiles 
is frightful enough ! — but to touch them — to put 



112 ETCHING THE TWENTY-FIRST. 

one's finger upon their colossal bony carcases — to 
look into that immense eve-hole of your favourite 
lehthyosaurian monster — the sight of their jaws and 
teeth — are frightful. Pray, Charles, if you are not 
a monster yourself, insist upon anything rather 
than that. 

Char. Here comes Mr. L. Surely you will not be 
so uncivil as not to admire where he worships. 

Louisa. Hush, Charles ! Hush ! I am fright- 
ened, in the very presence of the keeper of such 
horrible reptiles. 

Mr. L. {musing). One ! two ! ten ! twenty years! 
of heart-hardening, and yet soft and ductile as ever ! 
The cherished treasures of years — the spoils of 
twenty years of bitter war with the world — the fossil 
Louvre purchased, not pilfered, from all nations — 
but yesterday I sate in the midst of these relics of 
primeval oceans, as a being superior to the mere 
worldlings that ran and shouted down the adjoining 
cliffs : and to-day I am become a child — a mere 
little, drivelling, little child. Hah ! Charles ! 

Char. I have been in search of you. With the 
exception of Jane, all the girls shudder at what they 
have seen to-night. 

Mr. L. And does n't Jane ? 

Char. No ! Oh no ! Jane is wonderfully smitten 
with all she has seen. She is now tempting Louisa 
to look at the beautiful structure of the paddle of the 
Plesiosaurus and the immense opening for the eye of 
the Ichthyosaurus. 

Mr. L. Charles ! Charles ! Hold the light up. 
There ! there ! What do you see ? 



THE CROCODILE'S PLAYGROUND. 113 

Char, See — Oh ! nothing ! 
Mr. L. Look again ! Now ! 
Char. Oh ! nothing ; except a good-looking gentle- 
man of some fifty years ! 

Mr. L. Ay, Charles, there 's the rub ! Fifty 
years ! Five-and-twenty years wasted ! lost ! gone 
for ever ! Did you say Jane was really smitten with 
what she had seen to-night ? 

Char. Look for yourself. There she stands, one 
hand upon the monstrous reptile, from which Louisa 
shrinks in disgust; and the other pointing to the 
unrivalled collection of sharks' teeth, that is at her 
right hand. 

Louisa. Charles, this is indeed a most myste- 
rious place. Here is Jane quite beside herself, 
Kate and her father walking in the garden, and I am 
alone, looking as stupid as I feel. Between ourselves, 
I should advise a walk in the garden, to leave the 
genii of the place (i. e., Jane and Mr. L.) an oppor- 
tunity of deciding which of these odious creatures is 
most beautiful. 

Char. With all my heart. Stop just one moment 
at the door. With what exquisite taste is it arranged ! 
How the light falls dimly upon the head of the 
furthest skeleton, and how it flashes upon the living, 
and green, and moving type of these ancient denizens 
of the deep ! It is, indeed, a delusion — a mere cheat, 
that wealth has purchased as a happiness in his 
dreamy days, to wake up with the thorough conscious- 
ness that all, all is vanity ! 



l 2 



114 



EVENING XXII. 



THE OCEAN AS LIZARDS GRAVE. 



The change that circumstances had wrought in the 
character of Mr. L. had, by deranging all previously 
concerted plans, changed the whole course of opera- 
tions. The u Evenings," once so cherished, now 
became spiritless and dull, and Jane, the life and soul 
of all movement, seemed satisfied with no arrange- 
ment that did not include Mr. L. Charles and his 
father, who saw the great interest which Jane had 
excited in the mind of their bachelor friend, were 
desirous of withdrawing from this constant inter- 
course ; but Louisa and Kate were determined to 
make the most of his acquaintance. It was there- 
fore decided that several evenings should be spent 
at Mr. L/s, and that all previous engagements should 
be considered at an end. Evening came, and the 
party found the old bachelor in high spirits ; all his 
old preciseness had disappeared, and the only thing 
that could have reminded his visitors of the recluse 
and the philosopher, was the table that groaned with 
exquisite specimens of shells, and a splendid model of 
stratified rocks that ascended from the floor of the 
room in which they sate to the very ceiling. 

Tea passed happily by, giving that exquisite quiet 
and calm pleasure that it ever does to a thoroughly 
healthy body and mind ; and in the midst of a dis- 



THE OCEAN AS LIZARD'S GRAVE. 115 

cussion between Mr. L. and Jane, as to the uses of 
the vast tribe of primeval sharks, Charles called upon 
Mr. L. to redeem his promise in delivering a short 
lecture upon the extinction and creation of the 
animated beings whose fossil remains were arranged 
before them. 

After some little hesitation, and some little coquetry 
as to seats, between Kate and Louisa, Mr. L. 
began — 

" Ladies and Gentlemen, 

"One life has been spent in collecting the 
fossil remains of animals. I must take care that 
another is not lost in being their mere keeper. One 
great object with me in collecting remains has been to 
illustrate the great fact, that all that were created in 
the infancy of the world, myriads of ages ago, 
became extinct whilst the world was yet young, and 
that fish after fish, monster after monster, mammalia 
after mammalia, were created, and became extinct 
long before the creation of man." 

Char. I am delighted, Mr. L., with the subject ; 
I do hope you will, to-night, place this mysterious 
subject in a clearer lights 

Mr. L. I have always felt, Charles, that no man 
could comprehend the meaning of the word GOD 
until he knew that every part of the earth that was 
intended for the benefit or happiness of man was 
formed by slow processes ; that to form the rock 
from which man was to hew the block, to build his 
palace, myriads of reptiles and fishes should have 
lived happily, and died to add their remains to the 
slowly accumulating stony mass, and that later rocks 



110 EVENING THE TWENTY-SECOND. 

should contain the remains of animals totally distinct 
from those that had gone before ; and that they in 
their turn should die, giving place to other beings who 
lived their day, and then gave place to others. 

Char. Oh ! it is a beautiful theory of the earth's 
formation, that it should be the mere dead ruin — 
the mausoleum of myriads of happy beings. 

Mr, L. This successive creation and extinction of 
species is one of the most wonderful revelations of 
modern geology. Men read of it, and pass it by, as if 
it were the mere talk of the pigmy philosophers of the 
day, instead of being the recorded, burnt-in, inner- 
most opinion of the first minds of this era. To 
make it interest the multitude, one must bring it 
down to their capacity ; one must liken it to things 
that pass daily before them. Suppose that on some 
given day all the countless myriads of flies and ants 
were to cease to live, and that locusts and spiders 
should suddenly and for the first time swarm about 
our windows and rooms, and that in a few days 
they should all disappear, and that their places 
should be filled with scorpions and vampire bats, 
and that the great work formerly performed by 
flies and spiders or locusts, should still be carried on 
by these newly created things — we should wonder ; 
and our admiration would be more intense, if we 
learnt that the flies and spiders, all over the world, 
died or became extinct about the same time; but 
our wonder would be still greater, if we found the 
flies and the spiders becoming slowly consolidated 
into rock and stone, and that the scorpion ran over 
a chimney-piece filled with the remains of dead flies, 
just as we see the shells and even skeletons of fish 



THE OCEAN AS LIZARD 's GRAVE. 117 

in many species of marble in daily use. This would 
appear a miracle ! but Geology reveals to us a series of 
such miracles, quite as astounding, if they were noted 
down and reasoned upon. First comes the trilobite — it 
disappears ; then in other rocks are found the remains 
of others, differing in size and structure ; succeeding 
rocks are the very mausolea of other creations ; 
then follow lizards of vast size, and of capacious 
character; they die to give place to the Mammoth, the 
Mastodon, the Dinotherium, the Megatherium, and 
finally Man is created, springing into new life and 
happiness ; everything noxious and hurtful buried 
in the rock beneath his feet, and all that would add 
to his happiness — the horse, the cow, the sheep, feed- 
ing on the herbage that springs up at his feet. 



118 



EVENING XXIII. 

THE OCEAN AS VOLCANO QUENCHER. 



Jane, Jane! said Charles, as the evening ap- 
proached, what are those lines on friendship that 
our father quoted yesterday ? 

Jane. Oh, let me see — Goldsmith's, I think : — 

u And what is friendship but a name — 
A charm that lulls to sleep ? 
A shade that follows wealth and fame, 
And leaves the wretch to weep I n 

Whoi of them, Charles ? 

Char. Oh, nothing particular — nothing : but in 
the friendship of Mr. L. there is a reality, ;< a 
charm " that lulls not " to sleep/' but to the awaken- 
ing from the dream that the cynic and the philosopher 
are incapable of true friendship. 

Jane. There are noble traits in our new friend's 
character — that are hidden from the world : his 
travels in search of happiness — his hair-breadth 
escapes — his wonderful perseverance in overcoming 
difficulties — and his princely benevolence to those 
who have aided him in making this vast collection. 

Char. He has certainly made you his confidant. 
Jane. To me his conversation, although always 
delightful and original, has never contained a vestige 
of his personal history. 



THE OCEAN AS VOLCANO QUENCHER. 119 

Jane. Oh, you men are strange creatures ; there 
is no detecting in your sex, at a glance, the hidden 
spirit that often inhabits a tenement of the most 
unprepossessing exterior : with us, half an hour's 
converse reveals the whole character, habits of 
thought, likes and dislikes, general and particular 
included. 

Char. Jane, do not be too severe on yourself. 
That transparency of character that is a blot and 
blemish in man is a pearl of great price in woman ; 
we admire and reverence a Mrs. Somerville or 
Madame de Stael, but as to loving, that is quite out 
of the question. 

Jane. Where are these laughing girls ? Lucy and 
Kate have become so grave that it requires the 
utmost efforts of Louisa to keep them cheerful and 
happy. 

Char. It is ever thus with real knowledge — not 
that mockery that consists in names and unrealities. 
Do not imagine, Jane, that with a change of pur- 
suits, and a change of the sources of amusement and 
happiness, Lucy and Kate's perceptions of pleat-, 
sure are less vivid ; believe me that true pleasure 
does not consist in bursts of jocund laughter, or in 
the sparkling wit and repartee, but in the quiet soul- 
serenity that is the certain result of an acquaintance 
with the works of nature — a high and holy feel- 
ing that makes its votaries feel that they are not 
fulfilling their destiny, unless their delights and 
gratifications are graven in deeper characters in their 
minds when they dwell apart from the crowd, and 
hear but the unceasing hum of the pleasure-seeking 
mortals beneath their feet ! 



120 EVENING THE TWEXTY-THIRD. 

Jane. I could not interrupt you, my dear Charles, 
but our father and the girls are half-way to Mr. L/s. 
— A moment and I will be with you. 

Char. What a strange mystery is mind ! How 
one thought dropt at random amidst a thousand 
crude ideas, merely conglomerated together, reduces 
the whole to order, and harmony, and beauty; like the 
solitary crystal drop into the liquid mass of saturated 
salts ; or, to be less pedantic, like the mellow note of 
a solitary horn, that wakes up from their hiding- 
places the echoes of a thousand hills. 

The chair of the old bachelor had this night been 
wheeled into an inner apartment filled with the pro- 
ducts of volcanic action, collected by him in every 
part of the world — basalts, lava of every hue and 
density — in a word, specimens of all the volcanoes 
now in action, as also of extinct volcanic vents, that 
lit up our earth anterior to its present form. 

Mr. R. Charles, Mr. L. and I have been engaged 
for the last quarter of an hour in chalking out a 
plan for the future. He insists upon our being his 
daily guests until we return home. 

Lucy. Home ! father ! home ? 

Kate. Did you say home ? our old home ? 

Mr. R* Yes, the real home, where, no doubt, 
you remember the many happy days you spent there, 
and 

Jane. Happy ! father. Oh ! what a mistake we 
made ! why, I am ashamed to confess I had forgotten 
we had a home. 

Char. The wise mans home is everywhere. 



THE OCEAN AS VOLCANO QUENCHER. 121 

Jane. But the wise man s friends are not every- 
where, Charles. Alas ! that happiness should have 
its shade as well as sunshine ; that a summer like 
this must be trodden on the heel by a winter like 
the coming one. 

Mr. R. But hear our plan. Our friend is so well 
pleased with his last lecture, that he has volunteered 
to gratify us again. 

Kate. Oh ! thank you, my dear Sir ; you are too 
good ! I am sure if your house were large enough to 
admit lodgers, Louisa and I would take your lodgings 
the moment they were ticketed 4 to be let.' 

Mr. L. Well, my dear girls, you have made me 
happy once more ; your smiles have banished half a 
century of care ; I am so happy that I must be 
garrulous : if you do not choose to listen to my sense, 
you must have nonsense. I am like the old soldier 
who fought all his battles o'er again. 

Mr. R. Pray, my dear friend, be seated. We will 
be all ear. Let our first subject be 

" The Ocean as Lava Lighter. 9 ' 

Mr. L. Ladies, whenever I formerly entered this 
room, I felt like a man in a mine, shut out from the 
world indeed ! but shut in with the most wonderful 
of God's works. What is a volcano ? A burning 
mountain. What are Vesuvius — JEtna — Hecla % 
Volcanoes. What is lava — trachytic, or feld- 
spathic ? ask the spectacled philosopher. What are 
porphyry, greenstone; sienite, basalt ? the products of 
volcanic action ! Good ! What more— but let that 
pass — one ought to try to love even that lowest 

M 



122 EVENING THE TWENTY-THIRD. 

order of philosophers, whose knowledge is but the 
names of things. Come, Charles, you can tell us 
what a volcano really is. 

Char. Oh ! my dear sir. Pray tell us in your 
own language. 

Jane. Pray Charles, do. Mr. L. is in too excited 
a state ; we must not forget he is an invalid. 

Char. Jane, your wishes are commands. The vol- 
cano is to the earth its safety-valve, and its treasure- 
bearer. If the volcano had never been, this earth 
had been an arid and desolate waste ; rocks would 
have subserved one great end of their formation — the 
becoming sea-boundaries — but they would neither 
have had the precious metals injected into the cre- 
vices that wind around their very core, nor would 
they have been carpeted with a vegetation that 
refreshes the eye when wearied with care, or worn 
out with labour. 

Mr. R. Mr. L., this will never do ! this high and 
overwrought state of excitement must end. Charles 
must take this little course of lectures, and you must 
talk over what he is to discourse upon, quietly. I 
repeat it — quietly. To-morrow night the subject will 
be, " The Ocean as Lava Lighter." 



123 



EVENING XXIV. 

THE OCEAN AS LAVA-LIGHTER. 



Char. Mr. L. has consented to become part of our 
audience, reserving to himself the right of question- 
ing the lecturer, and explaining whatever he thinks 
needs explanation. 

Mr. L. I have taken Jane's advice, and intend to 
sit still. Lecturing is like dram-drinking — a thing so 
soul-absorbing, so thoroughly the work for an enthu- 
siast like me, that 1 must give it up. The faculty of 
thinking on one's legs has been truly called a God- 
like gift. Now, my dear boy, for this Lava-lighting ; 
the room is crowded with specimens of lava. How 
was it lit up % — by whom, or what ? 

Char. In my last I hinted that the mountain would 
have been barren if the volcano had not existed. I 
might have said the very mountain itself w T as often 
nothing but the result of many thousand years of 
silent oceanic-volcanic action. 

Jane. But e how was the lava lit up ? 

Char. There can be no doubt but that the centre 
of the earth is composed of substances that, although 
heated to an intense degree, yet exhibit no violence, 
no turbulence of action, until water, ocean- water, 
reaches them ; whether through some crevice formed 
during the drying and hardening or baking of rock, 



124 EVENING THE TWEXTY-FOUKTH. 

or whether through a rent, produced by another 
dread agent, whose violence has been experienced 
in all ages : and this brings me to consider the ocean 
in another aspect. Jane^ you know what the earth- 
quake, or internal action like the earthquake, has 
done ? 

Kate. Pray let me speak. One would have thought 
that politeness would have induced you to ask Lucy, 
or Louisa, or your humble servant. 

Louisa, There s no stopping these gentlemen when 
they begin to talk. Lucy, my dear, we will get 
John, the gardener, and Mary, the housemaid, and 
two or three little boys from the charity school, and 
lecture to them. 

Kate, About earthquakes ? 

Mr, L. Pray, Kate, go on. Charles shall be John 
the gardener, Jane shall be Mary, and I and the girls 
will be the little boys from the school. 

Kate, Ah! you may laugh. I can lecture very 
well — (Mocking Charles) — Gentlemen, the earth- 
quake is caused by the metalloid substances called 
potassium, sodium, calcium, existing in great quan- 
tities, which have a great affinity for water, which— 
which — Louisa, pray help me. 

Louisa, Which bursts the earth, lifts up the land, 
buries the cities. There, you see, with a little prac- 
tice, Kate and I should put some of you to the blush 
as lecturers. 

Mr, R. Of course, this specimen is original ? 

Louisa, Of course ; that is to say, quite as much 



THE OCEAN AS LAVA-LIGHTER. 125 

so as our friend Charles's, who pilfers Lyell, Buck- 
land, and Murchison, without mercy or compunction. 
Char. You wilful girls, when and where ? 

Kate. Why, my dear Charles, you have a very 
pretty habit of turning down the corners of books of 
science, and taking notes on little slips of paper, and 
losing them. Lucy, Louisa, and I, have picked up 
these precious relics, and just caught you — that 's all. 

Char. Confessed. I borrow everything, just as the 
moon borrows the garish light of the sun to reflect it 
softly on the tree and flower. 

Jane. That is a beautiful line in Romeo and Juliet 
— speaking of the moon-beam — 

" That silvers o'er with light the fruit-tree top." 

The evening business, once broken in upon, degene- 
rated into group-talking ; and, as illustrating one of 
the modifications of the beautiful law of attraction, 
Jane preferred the wisdom of the senior sages, 
Mr. R. and Mr. L., whilst the younger ones clustered 
around Charles, until the witching hour of night was 
almost at hand. 

"Good night — good night, all!" said the old beau; 
and whispering to Charles, " how delightful to catch 
hold of the skirts of departing Happiness, and to 
bring her perforce into the presence, clothed anew in 
robes of light and beauty. These are the real angels' 
visits ; may they be neither 6 few nor far between !' " 



2 



12G 



EVENING XXV. 

THE OCEAN AS EARTH-LIFTER. 

Mr. R. There can he no doubt, Charles, that the 
earth is gradually rising in various parts. 

Char. And has ever been so. The sea is destroying 
everywhere, encroaching everywhere : fixing its 
relentless tooth into the very hardest rock, and 
crumbling it down, to strew it on the ocean-floor 
as dust. 

Mr. R. The fact is undoubted, that the earth is 
slowly rising up in many places. 

Char. Not the slightest doubt can be entertained. 
Large and vast areas, some several thousand miles in 
circumference, in Scandinavia, the west coast of 
South America, certain archipelagos in the Pacific ; 
whilst others, such as Greenland and parts of the 
Indian and Pacific Oceans, are as gradually sinking, 
especially parts in which atolls or circular coral 
islands abound. That all existing continents, France, 
Spain, Germany, and also submarine abysses and 
caverns, may have originated in movements of this 
kind, continued through incalculable periods of time, 
is undeniable. 

Mr. L. And, my dear Charles, there can be no 
doubt but that much of our dry land has been 
gradually pushed up by subterranean action, and in 



THE OCEAN AS EARTH-LIFTER. 127 

this way valleys have been cut of every size and 
form by the action of running water. 

Mr. R. But these are the effects of upheavings on 
flat and table lands; the effect is more striking 
on some of the lofty mountain ranges. Lofty hills, 
like the Andes, the western part of South America, 
have risen at the rate of several feet per century; 
while the Pampas, on the east, have only been raised 
a few feet in the same time. Tn Europe we have 
learnt that the land at the North Cape ascends about 
five feet in a century; while, further off to the south, 
the movements diminish in quantity, first, to a foot, 
and then, at Stockholm, to three inches in a century, 
while at points still further south there is no move- 
ment. 

Kate. I wish yawning were permitted in polished 
assemblies. My dear Charles, forgive me, but you 
are excessively stupid to-night. 

Lucy. Pray, Charles, let us have something more 
lively and entertaining ; I feel quite stupid. Louisa ! 
Louisa! Asleep? Happy girl ! 




128 



EVENING XXVI. 

THE OCEAN AS EARTH-BURSTER. 



Char. Who but the supreme Creator of all could 
have devised a plan by which order and beauty should 
cover the earth, that myriads of happy beings should 
swim, or fly or crawl, over its surface, and that, when 
their happy day was ended, they should die, and 
that their graves should be the very sporting places, 
the playgrounds where myriads of others should live 
and die, and be entombed, and so on, for ages and 
ages ? 

Mr. R. And again, Charles, that these should be 
broken up and rent asunder — that in the very chasms 
new animals and fishes should sport and die, and 
again be burst and torn, until everything rocky in 
our quarries seems to have been heaved to and fro 
with irresistible power and energy. 

Char. How would an artist or a mechanic who 
had fashioned a piece of ingenious mechanism feel, if 
some other artist broke his machine into fragments, 
under the pretence of remodelling and improving it ? 

Jane, Take this watch or musical snuff-box ; how 
beautiful the melody of the one — how true the 
time-keeping of the other ; dash one against the floor, 
and the other burn with fire, and bring me the 
artist who can convince me that out of these broken 



THE OCEAN AS EARTH-BURSTER. 129 

and incinerated fragments he will make a chronometer 
or a snuff-box, evincing higher skill and workmanship 
than the last ? 

Louisa. Ay ! bring such a man, that we may 
behold him. Our friend's belief in mermaids and 
their sea-spouses would be nothing to the sheer im- 
pudence of the charlatan who should attempt it. 

Char. And yet this is nothing to what passes daily 
under our very eye — nothing to what has been going 
on for ages. Given an " earth without form and 
void," to quote the exquisitely appropriate language 
of scripture, how, and by what special agency is it 
to be brought into fitness for the home of man ? If 
in man could be vested omnipotent power, he would 
doubtless have created it perfect at once, passing from 
its formless to its present beauteous condition at a 
bound. The Deity had higher and nobler ends and 
aims. The earth was to increase in size as well as 
in fitness : myriads of shell-fish were created, and so 
on, to the creation of man. The acts of creation may 
be looked upon as a stupendous pyramid of happiness, 
man himself being the top-stone. 



130 



EVENING XXVII. 

THE OCEAN AS BRICKMAKER, 



The evening being wet and cloudy, the ladies pe- 
titioned that Charles might remain at home, and 
having readily complied with their request, he an- 
nounced, amid the derisive laughter of Kate and 
Lucy, that he should say a little on that beautiful 
aspect of the ocean — its acting as a Brickmaker. 

Kate. Oh ! extremely beautiful ! 

Lucy. Remarkably clean ! 

Louisa. Interesting to ladies — very 

Char. Thank you, ladies. If I were called upon 
to say in what part of this earth's solid substance 
there was shown the most profound design and fore- 
sight, I should at once say it was exhibited in the 
universal deposit of clay almost all over the world. 

Kate. My dear fellow, you know we could have 
lived in tents, or log -houses. 

Lucy. Or built houses with stone. 

Char. Ah ! you could have done so ; but what a 
paltry substitute for bricks to build houses with, which 
may either be a palace for a prince or a hovel for a 
pauper. 

Mr. R. And look at its other uses. Every cup, 
every vessel, vases of exquisite shape, glowing with 



THE OCEAN AS BMCKMAKER. 131 

colour and splendour, are also framed from it. Without 
clay, man would have been a poor, wretched being. 
If his house were not of stone, which it could not 
often be, he could never have dwelt in cities, where 
freedom was cradled — those fastnesses where the 
lamp of learning was kept duly burning, when it had 
been put out in baronial halls and castles. 

Kate. For my part, I cannot see anything so ex- 
traordinary in it. 

Char. What is clay, or gault, Kate ? 

Kate. Why, my brother dear, it is clay, and grew 
there, undoubtedly. You might as well ask me what 
grass is, or any other ridiculous question. 

Jane. Pray, Charles, tell us what it is. Its pro- 
perties of being hardened by fire are truly wonderful. 
Every man having clay, has within his reach, by the 
help of fire, a quarry of infinitely greater value to 
him than stone itself. 

Char. The history of this brickmaking clay, this 
unctuous, dirty matter now on the table, is a won- 
derful one. 

Kate. Ha ! ha ! Pray excuse me, Charles ; but 
the history of a piece of dirt is rather ludicrous. 

Louisa, Oh! Kate, I shall laugh when I like, 
for all the philosophers in Christendom. I shall 
laugh when I like. I am not your sister, indeed. 

Jane. My dear girls, laugh by all means, and at 
all times ; but let us hear the history of this laughed- 
at substance. 

Char. {Taking a lump in his hand) How many 
years ago this clay was a portion of a mountain of 



132 EVENING THE TWENTY-SEVENTH. 

vast extent and height, I dare not even guess. Pro- 
bably the earthquake rent a small chasm in the 
topmost peak, or it might be riven asunder by the 
lightning's flash. The very peak that attracted the 
lightning, brought near the thunder-shower, and the 
crack was filled with water ; the frost commenced 
the work, and never ceased till it had dislodged this 
rocky fragment, to be shivered into angular frag- 
ments as it fell into the sea : thousands, myriads of 
these fragments pave the sea-floor. 

Jane, But I cannot see what this has to do with 
clay. 

Char, Stop, Jane — let Kate be impatient if she 
will — remember the pieces of rock that fell into 
the sea were angular-pointed. How did they become 
round, either as boulders of large size, or as pebbles 
of every size and colour ? 

Jane. They undoubtedly became smooth by being 
rolled by the waves of the sea until they rounded 
each other. 

Char. But what became of the fragments — the 
waste that was gradually rubbed off, Lucy ? 

Lucy. It became dust, I suppose — a sort of wet 
dust. 

Char. And where was it laid ? 

Lucy. At the bottom of the ocean. 

Char. And became what ? 

Lucy. I am sure I cannot tell. 

Char. Think. 

Louisa. I see ! I se^ ! it became gaultclay. 



THE OCEAN AS BRICKMARER. 133 

Char. Precisely so ; but there are other sources of 
supply : the abrasion of rock by the mountain stream 
— the rocky morsels gnawed off by time — the decay 
of ancient rocks— all help to fill up this vast maga- 
zine of clay. 

Jane. Oh then, clay is powdered stones of every 
sort and kind ? 

Char. Probably so; gneiss, basalt, granite, and a 
thousand others that may be seen in every gravel 
heap, have been rubbed into pebbles, and the refuse, 
as it would be called, is specially treasured up by 
the ocean for the happiness of man. 

Mr. R. And yet we hourly pass by this treasure- 
bequest, a thousand times more valuable than gold 
to man, and look upon it as worthless as a mere scum 
or a vile sea-weed. Oh, I often think we do not 
employ the faculties God has given us aright, by not 
bringing these subjects more vividly before the young. 
Here is a substance gathered up with care for ages. 
Who has seen God in this ? Kate and Lucy, what 
would you say if every time the knife grinders- wheel 
goes round, every time the knife blade wore off, some 
little dusty fragments from the circular piece of rock 
sandstone that constitutes his grind-stone — what 
would you say if little hands — fairies' or cherubs', if 
you please — were seen gathering up every drop and 
atom as it fell, and carrying it to some secure spot ; 
and wherever and whenever the grinders stone was 
in motion, that these little bodiless members were 
actively at work ? 

Kate. I should certainly wonder, and I fear feel 
afraid. 



134 



EVENING THE TWENTY-SEVENTH, 






Char. And yet this is what is and has been done 
for man. Surely the time is coming when Science 
will be as the index finger-post, pointing to the 
Supreme Being who weighed the dust in a balance, 
and the sea in the hollow of His hand ! 



135 



EVENINQ XXVIII. 

THE OCEAN AS MOUNTAIN-BUILDER. 



Louisa. On, this rain ! this rain ! — surely it will 
cease soon. A day within doors was always a horri- 
ble thing to me ; but to be wet this day seems scarcely 
to be borne. 

Jane. Very complimentary to us, Miss Louisa. 

Char. And to me especially. I feel jealous of the 
gay old bachelor, and I shall tell him so. 

Louisa. Pray do ; and add, for his especial benefit, 
that you know a young lady who thinks one rich 
old bachelor worth two young beaux, who are crammed 
so full of wisdom that they have no time to dance, 
and romp, and talk romance with distressed damsels 
on a wet day. 

Char. Suppose for once we try what a whole day 
of frolic and fun will do. Ha ! ha ! ha ! Let us 
begin to laugh. Come, Kate, why don't you laugh ? 
Ha! ha! 

Kate. Give us the least phantom of a joke, and I'll 
laugh as immoderately as you please. 

Jane. Really, Charles, how ridiculous of you : 
what can you be laughing at ? 

Char. At Louisa's vexation — at the rain — at Mr. 
L.'s disappointment ! 



136 EVENING THE TWENTY-EIGHTH. 

Louisa* You ill-natured monster ! 

Char. I have a great mind to tell 

Louisa. Oh, quite welcome. I'll save you the 
trouble. Kate and I and Lucy have received a 
polite note from the old beau, inviting us to take tea 
with his housekeeper, that she might show us all 
over his mansion— his cabinets of metals and fossils, 
together with all the antique furniture. 

Kate. We had promised him to leave nothing 
unexplored. The rain still goes on pattering against 
the panes as if it would never cease ; and here comes 
our father; he professes weather wisdom. Any 
hope, my dear father, of the weather clearing up ? 

Mr. R. None whatever. 

Jane. Come, Louisa, make a virtue of necessity. 
Cheer up. Charles, you have often promised us a 
narrative of some of your travels — what say you ? 

Char. Anything — talking, singing, dancing — any- 
thing save and except wisdom. Miss Louisa has 
vetoed that for the day. 

Louisa. I'm quite penitent — let there be peace 
between us. The rain is coming down in such good 
earnest that the torrents from the heights are begin- 
ning to be amusing. 

Char. You talk of torrents and heights, Louisa : 
— I remember when ascending one of the highest 
mountains in India, being dreadfully alarmed at a 
mountain-torrent ; rain had fallen for ' days, every 
stream was swollen. When I had escaped from the 
most imminent danger, I thoroughly enjoyed the 
sublimity of the scene. 



THE OCEAN AS MOUNTAIN-BUILDER. 137 

Mr. R. There is something inexpressibly grand 
about these mountains ; their origin at the depths of 
the sea — their gradual rise for ages and ages ! their 
hoar antiquity — the mighty purposes they serve, 
and the beauty they everywhere confer upon the 
landscape. 

Jane. And then to think that here again the ocean 
has been the worker — that one ocean builds up the 
boundary mountains that are to hold the waters of 
smaller oceans. 

Char. Thank you for the idea, Jane ; and having 
walled in a minor ocean, they in their turn become 
its prey, and are carried hither and thither, at the 
mighty behest of Him at whose command every 
atom rolls into its appropriate place. 




n 2 



138 



EVENING XXIX. 

THE EARTH AS BASIN-FILLER. 



The morning being auspicious, the young ladies 
who had been so disappointed yesterday were on 
the alert. The sun shone with uncommon splen- 
dour, and after strolling over the beach, and having 
recourse to every conceivable method of pushing 
" Time" on, the happy hour at length arrived. They 
ran down the slope with the wild glee of giddy, 
unthinking youth, having previously extorted a pro- 
mise from Charles to fetch them at an early hour. 

Jane and Charles were left alone, and as was 
always the case, she had a thousand questions to ask. 

Jane. In what was said yesterday, Charles, of 
mountains, no mention was made of their vast utility 
in upheaving the level and horizontal rocks — that 
seems to be the most mysterious part of their uses 
— and one which it is extremely difficult to com- 
prehend. 

Char. There can be no doubt however of the fact, 
that if it had not been for the violent upheaving of 
mountains — if they had not exerted an upward force 
in breaking and dislocating and almost making per- 
pendicular various rocks — a force so infinitely greater 
than man can comprehend or calculate — man would 
have been a wretched wanderer upon the earth, the 



THE EARTH AS BASIN-FILLER. 139 

object of scorn and derision of the chimpanzee and 
the baboon, who would have disputed with him, 
successfully, the title to be the " Lord of the 
Creation." 

Jane. I have often thought, Charles, what ruin 
and confusion would have been the result of one act 
of forgetfulness in this earth-fashioning, if one can 
without irreverence conceive that possible which is 
altogether impossible. 

Char. Oh, Jane ! how trippingly the tongue speaks 
the word God ! How unsolemnly we talk of the 
Divine Creator, and yet how illimitable, how bound- 
less, how vast the distance between Him and us ! 
To have built a beautiful earth like this, with its 
mountains and seas and rocks, would require a mind 
coeval with this planet in age and co-equal with the 
Divine fabricator in wisdom. Oh! how it brings 
proud man down, and yet how it elevates him. 
There is, in very deed, a soul-ennobling feeling that 
flows from these pursuits that mere literature can 
never bestow. 

Jane. But you promised to say something about 
the part the mountain formed as a basin-filler. 

Char. We will defer that till our next meeting, 
Jane, when we shall discuss the part the ocean plays 
as " Coal carrier f but that must be at Mr. L.'s, 
for he has some splendid specimens of coal and slates, 
polished, and forming the chief ornaments of one of 
his upper rooms. 



140 



EVENING XXX. 

THE OCEAN AS SLATE-MAKER, 



Kate. Oh, Jane, you should have been there ; 
there were chairs of the oddest fashion, stools and 
beds so grotesque and fantastical, that I cannot, even 
now, think of them without laughing. 

Lucy. And, Jane, the floors were all of polished 
slate, of every colour, from blue to jet black. 

Louisa. Shale or schist, my dear Lucy, not slate' 
Now that we are philosophers, and think with the 
wise, we must on no account talk with the vulgar. 

Kate. I could almost go into hysterics at the 
thought of that old sofa. 

Lucy. Carved and cut out after the fashion of the 
ugliest of the Saurian monsters — the Megathen-some- 
thing Saurian. 

Louisa. I have pencilled the horrid creature's 
name down on this card — u The Megalosaurus." I 
am quite in love with the names of the wretches. 
How I shall bother poor Mary when I return home, 
with Pentacrinites, Briareus, and Belemnosepia. 
(Mimicking). Mary, bring in the Loiigo. 

Jane. Oh, you wicked girl, what will she know 
about Loiigo? 

Louisa. 1 11 explain it, as those learned Thebans, 



THE OCEAN AS SLATE-MAKER. 141 

Charles there and your father, often do, by changing 
one hard word into a harder. Bring in the Sepia 
officinalis, Mary, with the Loligo. 

Kate. You mean the pen and ink ? 

Louisa. The very same. There 's progress for 
you. I read all about this wonderful substance in 
Dr. Buckland this morning, when I stole into 
Charles's library, ostensibly to look for a book, but 
in reality to see if Charles was there. 

Char. You are past mending, Louisa ; but I am 
glad you read that chapter on the fossil remains of 
ancient cuttle-fish. 

Louisa. I should have skipped over it if I had not 
read a note so complimentary to Miss Mary Arming, 
of Lyme Regis, for having done so much for science 
in bringing to light these fossil reptiles. 

Mr. R. Nothing that the industry of Miss Arm- 
ing has enabled her to discover is more wonderful 
than this — that not only is the animal itself fossilized 
and preserved, but also the ink which enabled it to 
elude the pursuit of the monsters of the primaeval 
ocean. 

Char. It was hardly to be expected that we should 
find, amid the petrified remains of animals of the 
ancient world (remains of which have been buried 
for countless centuries in the deep foundations of the 
earth), traces of so delicate a fluid as the ink which 
was contained within the bodies of extinct species 
that perished at a period so inconceivably remote. 

Jane. I read one day, Charles, that Cuvier drew 



142 EVENING THE THIRTIETH. 

his figures of the recent cuttle-fish with fossil ink 
from the ancient species. 

Mr. R. And you also, perhaps, remember that as 
the ink-bags are frequently full, it is thought that 
they died suddenly, and were quickly buried in the 
sediment that formed the strata in which they are 
now found. 

Jane. A most delightful interruption certainly ; 
but pray, Louisa, tell us all about the slate you 
mentioned. 

Louisa. Miss Jane, I must remind you that slate 
is vulgar; I have micaceous schists and common 
ones, written down, with notes from Mr. L .'s descrip- 
tion. 

Jane. Did you actually take notes ? 

Louisa. Did I, indeed ? yes, and of other things 
too. Did you remark, Lucy, how concerned he was 
when I told him Jane would not come with us X 

Lucy. And how often he addressed me as Jane ? 

Kate. And how he told us that she reminded him 
of a portrait up-stairs ? 

Char. It's all badinage, Jane, merely to consume 
the time ; Louisa has pencilled down half-a-dozen 
names, and like other persons 1 have known, can 
make nothing of them. I will help her out — shall 
I, Louisa ? 

Louisa. If you are in such a great hurry, pray do ; 
1 suppose ladies are not to be permitted a few seconds 
to read their notes — a privilege specially to be con- 



THE OCEAN AS SLATE-MAKER, 



143 



ceded to gentlemen — and they need it often enough, 
as everybody knows. 

Char. Perhaps it will be better to defer this shale 
or slate discussion till to-morrow, when we can con- 
nect with it the far more interesting one of the 
formation of coal. 




144 



EVENING XXXI. 

THE OCEAN AS COAL-CARRIER. 



Char, Jane, what an evening for preparing the 
mind for dwelling upon the beneficence of the Deity ! 
There is such exquisite rapture felt in this unfolding 
the mysteries of ages long, long past — a feeling so 
elevated, so pure and serene, that care and trouble, 
the inheritances of man, are forgotten. 

Jane. I often think, Charles, that the pleasures 
experienced in the study of the works of Nature will 
not cease with this life, that they will still constitute 
the delights and pleasures to be experienced in another 
world; but heightened by the beholding brightly and 
clearly all that we now see " as through a glass 
darkly/' 

Char. Do you, indeed, think so, Jane ? Strange 
that this sentiment should never have found utterance 
before. Oh, Jane, this feeling is ever present with 
me ; gilding the refined gold of past recollections, and 
painting the lily of present enjoyments. I make no 
parade of a knowledge that all might acquire if they 
once experienced the pleasure it brings. I can reveal 
to no one the exquisite gratification afforded by these 
stray glimpses adown the dim and hazy vista of 
Time! My thanks to the Giver of all for the 
bestowment of a mind susceptible of these Divine 
enjoyments, ascend unuttered, unheard. My yearn- 



THE OCEAN AS COAL-CARRIER. 145 

ings after more and more knowledge, and my desires 
that a clearer insight into the hidden mysteries of 
creation might be given, are all hid from mortal eye, 
too sacred for utterance ! but their results are open 
to you — to all ! perfect content with everything, and a 
constant, joyous, happy buoyancy of spirit, at the very 
sight of which dull care and melancholy fly away ! 

Jane. I think no one is happy w T ho has not some 
one pet study. Do not you ? 

Char. Nothing is more strongly impressed upon 
my mind than the truth that the idle hours of the 
mind should always be spent in riding some favourite 
hobby-horse, no matter what. Geology, conchology, 
carving antique faces on umbrella handles, or music, 
or painting. I have seen some extraordinary instances 
of the development of latent mental energy by the 
devotion to the acquisition of some one science. Of 
all dreadful things, a mind unoccupied with some one 
darling pursuit is the most dire affliction. 

Jane, You, Charles, cannot tell what it is, having 
never experienced it. 

Char. Not exactly, Jane ; but I have seen it in 
others. Oh, that dreadful, mental yawning, that 
proceeds from the vacuity of a mind unoccupied 
with the achievement of some one grand pro- 
ject of a life, after the daily labour is over. Oh, 
the miseries of a night spent in mere sleeping, and 
awaking just to travel over the old round and sleep 
again 1 this surely is not living as if we believed body 
and mind were united ; but as if the immortal mind 
were chained to the body, like a corpse bound to the 

o 



146 EVENING- THE THIRTY-FIRST. 

body of a living man. But here comes father, with 
the girls. 

Louisa, Very pretty indeed, Mr. Charles ; remark- 
ably attentive to your visitors ! your humble servant, 
of course, has no pretensions to be able to converse 
with such highly polished and intellectual people, 
but 

Char. But — nothing ! Are you ready to go ? — 
Come, Louisa, take my arm. Surely we are good 
friends — are we not ? 

Louisa. Upon probation only, instantly to be dis- 
carded if disapproved. I mean to attach myself to 
the gay old bachelor all the evening ; but still you 
may walk with me, if you will ; but promise to listen 
to me. 

Char. Granted — now begin. 

Mr. R. Pray cease talking, and let us hasten to 
our friend; if I am not mistaken, he has been on 
the look-out for the last half-hour. 



Nothing could exceed the cordiality of the greeting. 
There was a spruceness in his appearance, a modern- 
izing, that afforded Louisa a fund of amusement. The 
gout had capitulated, and he insisted upon handing 
the tea to several of the young ladies, amidst the 
loudest protestations to the contrary. 

Mr. L. Pray let me be happy my own way, girls. 
If I 'm still I shall weep, or some such nonsense 
(brushing away a tear that stole down his cheek). Bless 
me, it seems true — once a man and twice a child ! 

Mr. R. My dear friend, do as you please ; your 



THE OCEAN AS COAL-CARRIER. 147 

happiness is ours, but we must remind you of your 
promise. 

Mr. L. Come, Jane {offering his arm)^ 1 have 
not forgotten it. This is the last freak of my past 

mad days — Open, Sesame ! Hah, Jane ! why 

start ? 

Jane. Oh, how beautiful ! 

Louisa. Let me stay, Charles : I will stay, to look 
upon it at a distance. 

Mr. R. Let Mr. L. and Jane go on. Charles, this 
was as he says his last freak ; the whole of the furni- 
ture here is coal and slate ; and the drawings that hang 
from the walls are the plants of which coal is chiefly 
composed. 

Char. Look here, Louisa ! look at these magnificent 
palms. 

Louis. A gigantic houseleek ; surely, Charles, 
houseleek has nothing to do with coal. Do you 
imagine that the coal trees and plants grew where 
they are found, or elsewhere, and floated down some 
river or sea ? 

Char. Both, probably ; here is a beautiful model of 
a coal mine ; enter this tunnel. I fancy myself in a 
fairy land; see how beautifully the jetty columns 
sparkle with light. 

Lucy. Extraordinary ! the foliage from the roof, 
the fruits and flowers that hang pendent, are added, I 
suppose, to give effect ? 

Char. Oh dear no ! In some coal mines no sculp- 
tured tracery can be more beautiful than the fossil 
plants that are preserved in the shales ; plants and 



148 EVENING THE THIRTY-FIRST. 

trees that exist also in the coal, but have been either 
destroyed by heat, or hidden by the mixture of some 
pitchy or bituminous matter to make it coal. 

Mr. L. Charles, now you have ciceroned the ladies 
through my colliery, bring them here. Here is a little 
collection of ferns, palms, and plants, found in coal. 
I was once, Jane, an amateur in coal mines. I have 
seen more splendid things in a coal mine than any- 
where upon earth. 

Louisa. Really, Mr. L., are you talking seriously? 
beauty in a coal mine — impossible ! You forget, sir, 
there are no ladies there. 

Char. Oh, I quite believe it, Jane. I recollect in 
Bohemia, the most elaborate imitations of living 
foliage upon the painted ceilings of Italian palaces 
bear no comparison with the beauteous profusion of 
extinct vegetable forms with which the galleries of 
these instructive coal mines are overhung. The roof 
is covered 

Louisa. Pardon me, Charles. It seems amazingly 
like something about page 458 of a certain Bridge- 
water Treatise — nameless, of course. 

Char. The roof is covered as with a canopy of 
gorgeous tapestry, enriched with festoons of the most 
graceful foliage, flung in wild irregular profusion over 
every portion of its surface. The effect is heightened 
by the coal-black colour of these vegetables, with the 
light ground of the rock to which they are attached. 
The spectator feels himself transported, as if by 
enchantment, into the forests of another world ; he 
beholds trees, of form and characters now unknown 
upon the surface of the earth, presented to his senses 



THE OCEAN AS COAL-CARRIER. 149 

almost in the beauty and vigour of the primaeval 
life ; their scaly stems and bending branches, with 
their delicate apparatus of foliage, are all spread 
before him, little impaired by the lapse of countless 
ages, and bearing faithful records of extinct systems 
of vegetation, which began and terminated in times 
of which these relics are the infallible historians. 

Mr. R. Jane ! Louisa ! Lucy ! behold the grand 
natural herbarium, wherein these most ancient re- 
mains of the vegetable kingdom are preserved in a 
state of integrity, but little short of their living per- 
fection and beauty. 

Char. Recording not only plants themselves, but 
also the conditions of our planet which exist no more. 




o2 



150 



EVENING XXXII. 

THE OCEAN AS SEED-ELOATER. 



The recent chafing of the ocean had strewed the 
heach with fragments of rock and weed ; no incon- 
siderable curiosity was excited by the fact of a cocoa- 
nut being observed floating in the midst of some 
gluey substance, with which the girls were not 
acquainted. On their return home, they determined 
to seek out Charles, and ask him whether it were 
possible that this cocoa-nut could have swam from 
the island upon which it grew ; and not a few ques- 
tions were to be put relative to the glue in which 
it was enveloped, or rather with which it was 
covered. 

Jane. I incline to the opinion, that it has floated 
here from some island upon which it grew. 

Louisa. Who ever heard, Jane, of these a being 
one of the agents employed in carrying seeds from 
one part of the earth to another ? 

Jane. Why, Louisa, there can be no doubt but 
that the sea transports seeds from the fertile and cul- 
tivated island to the more lonely and desolate shores 
where vegetation is in its infancy, to shores yet un- 
trodden by the beast of the forest, or by his lord and 
master. 

Char. The whole business of dispersing and pro- 
tecting the seeds of plants and trees is most wonder- 



THE OCEAN AS SEED-FLOATER. 151 

fill ; here we have the seed raised on a tall stalk that 
the wind may waft it away from the parent plant ; 
these wings, the most buoyant and feathery, are given 
for a like purpose ; in others, they are preserved 
whilst passing through the alimentary canals of ani- 
mals, or they cling to the coats of animals, or they 
float in water, or, by an elastic spring, they are for- 
cibly thrown from the parent plant. 

Jane. How beautiful to think, that the very wave 
that chafes the naked coral rocks of the great Pacific 
Ocean, is the bearer of the seed that is to clothe them 
with vegetation, and to fit them for the habitation of 
man ! Surely, Lucy, this could not be the result of 
accident. 

Char. Oh ! dear no, Jane. The buoyancy of 
the cocoa-nut, the resisting investments, and the 
vitality of seeds, were not necessities ; but without 
these wonderful contrivances the islands themselves 
would have been created for no purpose, and the won- 
derful plan of forming new continents and new islands 
out of the ruins of the old would have been thwarted. 

Mr. R. Of the composition of the mucilage that 
adheres to these and other sea-seeds, but little can be 
known. It is a gum which water cannot dissolve, 
but which enables the seeds of the fuci to adhere to 
whatever solid body they touch ; even, as seamen 
know too well, to the very copper with which they 
attempt to protect their ships from this invasion. 

Char. Let chemistry name another mucilage, a 
substance which water cannot dissolve, though ap- 
parently already in solution in water, and then ask if 
this extraordinary secretion was not designed for the 



152 EVENING THE THIRTY-SECOND. 

special end attained ; and whether also it does not 
afford an example of that Power which has only to 
will, that it may produce what it desires, even by 
means the most improbable. 

Louisa. Thank you, Charles. You have said 
nothing of the down of the willow-seed — a tree every- 
where the inhabitant of rivers — a seed that is both 
ship and balloon, a precious freight for posterity in 
the most distant regions ; sailing on the bosom of the 
crested wave, and wafted by the breeze that is 
employed in its conveyance to the destined spot 
where it is to take root, and become the parent of 
trackless forests, and the maker of jungles and miry 
sedges, where the tiger loves to lie in wait for his 
prey. 



^^W^3^ 



153 



EVENING XXXIII. 

THE OCEAN AS CORAL-FEEDER. 



Early in the morning, a large box arrived from 
Mr. L., and a note to Charles from the same quarter, 
intimating that he should be his self-invited guest for 
a few days. This was looked upon by Charles and 
Jane as a triumph of no ordinary magnitude. 

Jane, The whole seems to be a dream, Charles ; 
it seems but as yesterday, that our dear friend was 
deemed by us as a sort of harmless lunatic, unfit for 
the society of polished and intellectual beings, having 
no sympathy with his kind ; and we find him to be 
one of the most estimable of men. 

Char. Mr. L., Jane, is a fair sample of a small 
class of men, for which the world, in its superior 
wisdom, would long ago have prescribed a strait- 
waistcoat. In their eyes / am mad ; and when they 
know your new tastes and pursuits, Jane, they will 
deem you so too. 

Jane. I shall bless and thank them for it, if 
exclusion from their society be the punishment— 
but what further says the note ? 

Char. Read it for yourself. (Reads) — " I have 
enclosed some specimens of coral and coralline rock, 
and shall be happy to discuss with you in the 
evening the subject of coral formations, a subject to 
me of the deepest interest" 



154 EVENING THE THIRTY-THIRD. 

Throughout the whole day preparations and 
arrangements on an unusual scale were apparent — 
Jane was as usual the presiding genius — but upon 
Louisa and Lucy fell the burden of diffusing an air 
of cheerfulness over the whole household. Life was 
to them one long sunny day — Jane's was beginning 
to have its clouds. Every one having performed her 
allotted share of the work, was ready to receive Mr. 
L., and just as Louisa was bantering Jane on the 
plainness and neatness of her evening costume, he 
drove to the door, surprising everybody who had seen 
him hobbling through his apartments two or three 
weeks before. 

Mr. L. Well, Jane, where is my old enemy and 
tormentor ? 

Louisa. Here, at your service — but pray let me 
wheel the old chair that is especially reserved for 
you, with all the et ceteras of cushions and footstools. 

Char. What an antediluvian memory you have, 
Louisa ! Gout and care are extinct species of bodily 
and mental maladies ; and happiness, and hope, and 
health, are our new and living creations. 

Lucy. My dear Mr. L., there is an intention to 
surprise you this evening — a plan has been concocting 
all day to get up something like your Mermaid's 
Hall on a small scale; — they have shut me out, so I 
revenge myself by telling you. 

Mr, L. Never mind, Lucy, I will avenge your 
quarrel by appearing unmoved at all they show me — 
but here comes Charles. 

Char. My dear sir, we are greatly obliged by the 



THE OCEAN AS COAL-FEEDER. 155 

present of this morning. The pentacrinites and the 
lily encrinites are heautiful. Jane has placed them 
in her room as her especial property. 

Mr. L. Every thing connected with the interior 
of the earth is beautiful : but let us walk in your 
garden — I have so long enjoyed the sea-breezes that 
I cannot live without them. 



All were impatient for the evening to set in. 
The fire blazed with unwonted brightness — each 
face was radiant with happiness — the table in the 
centre was filled with specimens of coral — and the 
general happiness seemed complete, when Mr. L., 
accompanied by Charles and his father, entered the 
room. 

Louisa. I must and will speak first, Jane. I lay 
claim to this magnificent piece of coral. 

Lucy. And I to this. 

Mr. L. Pray, ladies, consider them all your own. 
Perceiving that Louisa and Lucy would be enamoured 
of these corals, I have brought Jane one of equal size 
and beauty, but already cut into beads. 

Louisa. Oh, how large ! how beautiful ! After 
all I do not think these on the table so very beautiful. 
Lucy. Nor I. 

Mr. L. Indeed ! then I must open another little 
packet here. 

Louisa. Oh you tantalizing and tiresome man ! 
Two others, not quite so beautiful as Jane's, but 
labelled, " For Louisa and Lucy, friends of L." 



156 EVENING THE THIRTY-THIRD. 

Mr. L. Say not a word. Who would ever have 
thought of building a barrier to the sea- wave by the 
agency of a little polyp something like our sea 
anemone ? 

Charles. There is nothing in the formation of 
the earth more wonderful than this; imagine a 
solitary polyp wandering through the ocean-depths, 
alighting at last upon a submarine rock, or volcanic 
cone, or ridge, and commencing its solitary work ! 
As it grew, thousands of young polypi peeped out 
from their little homes, eacli one taking up the 
parent office of building up reefs and islands — the 
one for a home, and the other for a sea-barrier from 
hostile armaments, for man. 

Jane. Some of these reefs are of enormous length. 

Charles. Oh yes ! of many hundred miles. 

Louisa. I cannot see the utility of these coral- 
reefs. 

Mr. L. Not see them ? why their uses are very 
numerous; but you must read the work of Mr. 
Ellis on corallines, and afterwards Montgomery's 
beautiful poem, " The Pelican Island/' 

Louisa. Thank you. Pray, Jane, take a memo* 
randum of these books, and read them for me, 
my dear girl. There is really so much to do every 
day that Lucy and I have no time for reading. We 
shall drop in to-morrow morning, Jane, to inquire 
about Messrs. Ellis and Montgomery. 

Mr. L. What do you think, Jane, is another pur- 
pose for which these industrious coralline polypi 
were formed ? 



THE OCEAN AS CORAL-FEEDER. 157 

Jane. I know not, — until within a few days or 
weeks, I have known nothing of them beyond their 
being connected with coral beads. 

Mr. L. They are the scavengers of the ocean, 
Jane; of the lowest class, indeed, but perpetually 
employed in cleansing its waters from impurities 
that escape the crustaceous fishes, in the same 
manner that the insect tribes upon earth, in their 
various stages, are destined to find their food by 
devouring impurities caused by dead animal and 
vegetable matter upon the land. 

Charles. I recollect well, that Mr. De la Beche 
observed that the polypes of the Caryophillia Smithii 
devoured portions of the flesh of fishes ; seizing them 
with their tentacula, and digesting them within the 
central sac that forms their stomach. 

Mr. L. We have before said that they cannot 
work above the water; there is reason to believe 
that the action of the air and water upon the upper 
layer decomposes it, and that it falls down to the 
depths of the sea as common chalk. 

Jane. Common chalk, Mr. L. ? Chalk the result 
of decaying coralline ? Wonderful ! 

Mr. I j. Jane, everything is wonderful that is new. 
But let us drop this subject for the present, and talk 
of a plan for a sea- voyage next month. To Charles 
alone have I revealed the rough outline of the 
plan. 

All discourse about corals and polypi of course 
came to an instant conclusion, the girls grouped round 
Mr. L., and the night was far advanced before they 
retired to rest. 



158 



EVENING XXXIV. 

THE OCEAN AS A ROOF, 



The announcement of a sea-voyage to the Isles 
of Greece ; to the romantic shores of che Mediterra- 
nean ; to wander through the classic land of Italy ; to 
see actual volcanoes; rendered the " Evenings" tedious 
and irksome to the girls, with the exception of Jane ; 
hour after hour was spent in asking questions, the appe- 
tite for knowledge grew with what it fed on. After 
attempting to bring all the family together two 
evenings in vain, the plan was given up as far as 
regards the fair sex, and the trio of philosophers, 
Mr. R. , Charles and Mr. L. determined to draw one 
another out as usual. 

Charles, I have been thinking this morning, Mr. 
L., that the ocean plays a very important part as a 
sort of Earth Roof, by the immense pressure of which 
the imprisoned gases and other heated materials are 
confined within the bowels of the earth. 

Mr. L. I look upon the waters of the ocean as 
pressing upon a yielding and elastic earth-covering, 
acting like a vast hydrostatic machine, and compress- 
ing the fluid contents beneath until they find vent in 
some distant mountain range. 

Charles. It may be so ; but I imagine the pressure 
is caused by the ignition of the imprisoned metal- 



THE EARTH AS A ROOF. 159 

loids, caused by the rushing of water through the 
numberless fractures in the ocean's floor. 

Mr. R. What an object of wonder and curiosity 
must this same ocean-floor be, saying nothing of its 
riches — of its ruins — its argosies — its living and dead 
inhabitants ! What mighty changes are going on 
there ! What sleeping thunders are awakened up 
when the earthquake rumbles through its hollow 
bosom ! What destruction, when fragments of ocean- 
floor are hurled up by a volcanic cone just piercing 
through the rocky crust ! 

Charles. The floors of ancient oceans must have 
been the scenes of perpetual turbulence and ruin. If 
the sea was, as I believe, thickly studded with vol- 
canoes, what destruction of life must have resulted 
therefrom ! 

Mr. L. When you call to see me again, Charles, 
you must look at my specimens of ocean-floor — fishes 
suddenly deprived of life by liquid rock, that burst in 
upon them, others choked by an irruption of mud or 
fluid chalk, but all furnishing specimens of rock and 
stone, susceptible of polish. 

Charles. Who could ever have conceived the 
plan but the Maker of Heaven and Earth ! The 
exquisite marbles that adorn our fire-places, and the 
statuary that bestows immortality alike upon the 
hero, and the temple that contains all of Him that 
Time has left for mortals to look at; who would 
have ever dreamed that a material so exquisitely 
beautiful was the result of the bursting of the sea- 
floor and the destruction of myriads of fishes ? 



160 



EVENING XXXV. 

THE OCEAN AS EARTH-QUAKER, 



Mr. R. Among the truths that are becoming 
quite common-place, may be classed the just and 
rational ideas now prevalent on the subject of earth- 
quakes. 

Charles. True of rational men in civilised countries, 
where earthquakes are not ; but not so of countries 
where they are frequent. 

Mr. R. Of course the earthquake must ever be 
an object of dread, just as the storm, and the hurri- 
cane, and the simoom, and the tornado are ; but no 
more. 

Mr. L. I have no recollection of any event that 
appeared to bring me so immediately into the presence 
of God as the first earthquake I felt, and the first 
eruption of a neighbouring volcano that followed it ; 
but this feeling soon wore off, and I now look upon 
the earthquake as a telegraph announcing to me that 
the beneficent purposes of the Deity in forming new 
lands, and in fertilizing the Earth, are not yet come 
to an end. 

Charles. This is indeed one of the sublime uses of 
philosophy, that it reveals to us the universal bene- 
volence of the Divine Architect. If a shoal of fishes 
are choked by volcanic mud, it is to form a slab of 



THE OCEAN AS EARTH-QUAKER. 161 

rock for man ; if lava overrun a desolate rocky 
steep, it is that it may decompose and become rich 
and fertile soil. If stones and rocky fragments are 
hurled into the air, it is that they may fall upon the 
ocean-floor, be chafed with the surging wave, and 
finally moulded into fitness and beauty for mans 
purposes. Every act, whether the creation of a 
coralline polyp, or the bursting forth of millions of 
tons of liquid lava — all attest the same glorious fact 
that " God careth for Man." 

Mr. L. I find these Evenings must come to a 
close ; the girls' heads are evidently turned with the 
prospects of our autumnal sea-voyage. We must 
therefore close with another Evening. I regret that 
the list, the original list, cannot be completed. 

Charles. The list ! what list ? 

Mr. L. Oh ! Charles, a friend of yours, and a very 
particular friend of mine, has furnished me with notes 
of the whole Evenings. I shall never cease to regret 
that so many precious days were lost to me. Oh ! the 
Ocean Caverns would have been a beautiful subject, 
how they were lit up by phosphoric lights. How 
they, tenantless and lone, were moulded silently into 
fitness and beauty for their future inhabitants ! How — 

Mr. R. But, my dear Sir, we must have an Even- 
ing for the Ocean as Sea-sun, and then we must cease 
for a season. 




p2 



162 



EVENING XXXVI. 

THE OCEAN AS A SEA-SUN. 



Mr. L. My dear Mr. R., after the excitement of 
last evening, let this be one of quiet and repose. I 
am like a man who, having composed himself to die 
quietly and decently, suddenly finds himself growing 
stronger and stronger, and having an increased relish 
for life and its enjoyments. I still seem to have a 
work to do ; and, if life and health be given me, I 
will do it. 

Mr. R. There spoke out my old friend. After 
a quarter of a century of mind-hybernation, it is 
delightful to see the awakening. It has ever been 
my fervent wish, that you should leave to posterity 
something that the " world would not willingly let 
die." 

Mr. L. Thank you ! thank you ! " no more of 
that, Hal ! an' thou lovest me." I shall be a child 
again ! Pray hold your tongue, Charles ! I know 
what you would say. Did you see the dead fish 
thrown up by the waves last night ? 

Charles. I had the curiosity to have large portions 
of it brought to me, and, as the night came on, it 
was perfectly luminous ; even the very knives with 
which it was cut shone with a bright blue light. 

Mr, L. In going back to the era when the sea 



THE OCEAN AS A SEA-SUN. 163 

teemed with life, and probably before the rays of the 
sun illumined the surface of the waves, it was ne- 
cessary that the eye of the voracious shark or saurian 
should direct him to the dead and living fish upon 
which he was to prey. 

Mr. R. How was this to be performed ? I have 
but a faint idea myself. 

Mr. L. Picture to yourself an earth whose at- 
mosphere was dark, with dank and sulphurous and 
noisome vapours, but whose ocean depths of 6000 feet 
teemed with life. Eyes of gigantic size were bestowed 
upon the fiercest pursuers, and eyes were also given 
universally to the pursued. Why \ Whence came 
the light in either case ? 

Charles. He who created the difficulty invented 
the remedy. In some tribes they are luminous during 
life ; but in all, long before they are too putrid for 
food, they become phosphorescent. 

Mr. L. Or, in plainer words, they become sea- 
lamps, lighting up the depths of the ocean, to enable 
myriads of fishes to discover their daily food. But 
this is not all ; the very water itself has the faculty 
of dissolving the light-giving body, and making the 
surface-wave bright and luminous. 

Mr. R. Is the colour of the light ever the same ? 

Mr. L. Oh no! Sometimes snow-white, or else 
electric-blue, or of a greenish tinge, or reddish, or 
yellow. 

Charles. I recollect, when sailing in Bay, 

in the year 1840, that every flash of the oar seemed 
to gild the wave with a scarlet light. There seems 



164 



EVENING THE THIRTY-SIXTH. 



a striking analogy running through the whole crea- 
tion. Man dies, and it is all but an instinct to 
remove him out of our sight. Animals die, and the 
keener-scented are gifted with the instinct of detecting 
the death-odour even during life — whilst the duller 
are allured by the decomposition from immense dis- 
tances. In fishes the process of decay is stopped, that 
the floor of the ocean may be lit up with undying and 
unfading lights. 



165 



EVENING XXXVII. 

THE FAREWELL. 



The last Evening on Land, after the lapse of three 
days to enable each party to pack up all that would 
be required for a short sea excursion, Charles an- 
nounced that on the morrow their vessel would be 
ready. He was also the bearer of a message from 
Mr. L., inviting the whole party to spend the last 
Evening with him, and to embark from thence at 
early dawn. 

This last Evening had long been anticipated by all, 
but by no one with more anxiety than Jane. To 
Louisa and Kate every change would have been 
delightful, but to Jane this voyage, for many rea- 
sons, was especially so. — As Mr. R. had promised to 
see all the luggage on board, Charles and his sisters 
bade farewell to their sea home, where the rare art of 
studying each others happiness had been practised 
with success. 

They found Mr. L. in a state of despondency that 
almost alarmed them. He spoke gloomily of the 
forthcoming voyage, and hinted that it was late in 
the season for an old man to go to sea. Charles, 
who knew how strongly his mind clung to his fossil 
treasures, foresaw this, and endeavoured to lead his 
mind away from the objects of its present fondness, 



16(5 EVENING THE THIRTY-SEVENTH. 

but dilating with rapture of the exquisite gratifica- 
tion he would have in revisiting the scenes of his 
early yGuth, and the certain additions that he would 
be enabled to make to his unrivalled collection. 

Charles. In addition to all this, there will be the 
delightful office of communicating all you observe to 
minds in some degree prepared for it. 

Louisa. And Mr. L. you know, you and I are 
under an engagement to peep into the first volcanic 
crater we come near — always provided it has been 
still and quiet for a month before our visit. 

Mr. L. Ah, Louisa ! promises are made to be 
broken. When this was made, I felt young again, 
now I am little better than a feeble old man. 

Louisa. Remarkably feeble, certainly ! and old 
enough to be one's father, without doubt ! but the 
oddity of the thing is, that the attack of old age and 
debility has come on so very suddenly. Come, I 
must turn doctor I see. How far did you walk 
yesterday, Sir? 

Mr. L. Four miles. 

Louisa. What did you partake of for dinner yes- 
terday ? 
Mr. L. Let me see. — Fish, fowl, and a tart or so. 
Louisa. And wine ? 
Mr. L. Yes, miss, wine ! 
Louisa. And until last night slept soundly ? 
Mr. Ij. Very soundly ! 

Louisa. Very bad symptoms, truly ! Are you 
not ashamed of yourself ? Hypocrisy is barely en- 



THE FAREWELL. 167 

durable in a young lady, but in a very old and feeble 
man quite shocking ! 

Mr. L. What do you prescribe, Miss? 

Louisa, Oh ! that you shall be 'compelled to 
listen to all the nonsense that Kate and J can utter 
for the next three hours. 

Mr. L. I feel the virtues of the prescription 
already. Really I am not so very feeble after all. 

Kate. But sitll very old, " little better than a 
feeble old man." 

Mr. L. Come, girls, a truce to this. I was in a 
melancholy mood ; the sight of you all has cured 
me. Come, Kate and Louisa, I will challenge you 
to jump over one of those packing-cases now lying 
in the hall. — But where 's Jane ? 

Charles. Jane has caught your gloominess, but the 
clouds are brightening up apace. 

Mr. L. Charles ! Jane ! pardon me. At this 
moment I feel that one of the great ends of living is 
to make others happy. If my life is spared, I will 
devote myself to this one object, with an energy that 
shall atone for years and years of selfish and solitary 
unfriendliness with my fellow beings. 

Charles. Would that this sentiment were universal ! 

Jane. Would that all men devoted themselves to 
the happiness of others as zealously and as usefully 
as you have, Charles ! Oh, what a happy world 
would it be. 

Charles. The secret was revealed to me when a 
boy, that no happiness could be greater than making 
others so. Manhood has vastly multiplied the 



168 EVENING THE THIRTY-SEVENTH. 

means, and has brought with it increased desires to 
live in the midst of a joyous circle — the happiness- 
maker of all within my reach and influence. 



Note. — If this humble attempt to interweave the warp of 
science with the woof of fiction should he as favourably received 
as our former little volume, " The 4 Sea Voyage ' of Charles 
and his Sisters " would furnish materials the most ample for 
another volume. 



IHB END. 



TALES 

FOR 

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR CHILDREN. 
Jirst Ktvus. 

The first collection of these popular narratives, 
comprising thirty-Jive volumes, being now com- 
pleted, a brief analytical notice of the works is 
desirable ; thereby to unfold the claims which the 
" Tales for the People" have upon the attention of 
that immense multitude of readers, especially 
among youth, who are desirous to b'end the in- 
structive and the useful with that which attracts 
and excites the purest emotions of active benevo- 
lence. 

Of the volumes wnicn are included in the first 
series of " Tales for the People," whether fos di- 
versity or usefulness of subjects, or for their* lite- 
rary excellence, or for the beneficial results of 
them, or for the character of their authors, as 
qualified moralists, probably the selection is not 
surpassed in value by any similar domestic library. 
Hannah More has furnished two of them ; Mary 
Howitt has supplied thirteen ; Mrs, Ellis has con- 
tributed four; Harriet Martineau has given two; 
Mrs, Guizot has presented three ; Mrs, Copley has 
imparted two; Mrs, Cameron and Mrs, Sandham 
each have bestowed one; Captain Marryatt has 
supplied five; Mr. Arthur has furnished one; to 



2 TALES FOR THE PEOrLE 

which is added the justly-admired volume for ju- 
venile readers — the " Looking-glass for the Mind." 

In noticing these thirty different works of which 
the first series of " Tales for the People" is com- 
posed, they may be taken in the order thus given, 
according to the names of the writers ; whence all 
readers may decide upon the adaptation of this 
household library for their own use. 

More Hannah. — The works of that highly 
valued moralist were searched, and two volumes 
of her very instructive biographical and social 
sketches were selected, under the titles of Domes- 
tic Tales and Rural Tales. Those contain some 
of her pictures of real life, which never before 
were issued separate from the entire series of her 
writings. Those narratives originally were pub- 
lished in monthly numbers; and the beneficial 
effects of them in inculcating decorum, industry, 
and sobriety, and in promoting frugality and sub- 
ordination amid the exciting turbulence of the 
earlier period after the commencement of the 
French Revolution, it is impossible duly to esti- 
mate. The salutary information which they impart 
is, like "the moral fitness of things," unchange- 
able ; consequently her characteristic delineations 
of the " Shepherd of Salisbury Plain," of " Parley 
the Porter," of "Mr. Fantom the' Philosopher," 
and of the " Two Wealthy Farmers," with her 
other graphic portraits, and landscape scenery, 
will retain all their freshness and attraction as 
long as the beauties of nature and art retain their 
capacity to delight us, and domestic enjoyment in 
moral array combines "things w^hich are pure, 
and lovely, and of good report." 

Howitt Mary. — The simple-hearted, truthful 
Friend is the authoress of thirteen volumes in this 



AND THEIR CHILDREN. 3 

series; and whether we consider the variety of 
their contents, or the felicity of their execution, or 
their practical instructions, or their beneficial tend- 
ency, they are equally valuable. 

Where all of them are so excellently adapted to 
promote the welfare of those who peruse her de- 
scriptions of English scenery and life, it is difficult 
to discriminate between their comparative merit, 
especially as they are so diversely applicable. 
This general remark will be clearly perceived in 
its suitability, if we advert to the grand design of 
some of them as inscribed on the titles. 

The Two Apprentices are genuine portraits of 
Anglican society in that relation. In fact, we 
have no doubt that Mary Howitt's personages in 
her tales are just as real as her depicted scenery 
is true ; — and we would also in general remark, 
that so faithful are her displays of the landscapes, 
and of the social condition, and of the persons, 
embodied in her tales, that a more lucid and cor- 
rect estimate of the peculiar classes of the people 
to whom her narratives chiefly refer can be ob- 
tained from her illustrations, than from any other 
modern works. Exclusive of all their other claims 
upon perusal, this alone, in our present interna- 
tional relations with Britain, renders them a very 
desirable source of instruction for all our people 
and their children. Of the " Two Apprentices," 
however, it may be remarked, that it is a clearly 
reflecting mirror, in which youth learning busi- 
ness may behold themselves, in their inexperience, 
thoughtlessness, danger, and onlv security from 
being " cast-away. 55 

My Uncle the Clockmaker. — The changes in 
human life, the evils of unthinking profusion, the 
advantages of patient submission to trials which 



4 TALES FOR THE PEOPLE 

are unavoidable, and the infallible certainty im- 
plied in the oracular adage — " A man's life con- 
sisted not in the abundance of the things which 
he possesseth" — all are portrayed in a very en- 
couraging aspect, which speaks at once to the 
judgment and sensibilities of the reader — and the 
mind spontaneously acquiesces in the general im- 
pression, however masked by name and place, that 
the events were as real as they are natural. 

My own Story. — This is Mary Howitt's auto- 
biography of her childhood, until she first was sent 
away from parental supervision to a boarding- 
school. We know not which most to admire in it, 
the feminine delicacy or the infantine simplicity. 
It is the very book for girls from ten to fourteen 
years of age. We cannot comprehend how such 
a book ever was written by a matron who has 
heard and seen so much of earthly vanity. Like 
as was said of Watts, we are not surprised at his 
metaphysical and theological disquisitions, but how 
the renowned philosopher could write his " Songs 
for Children" is almost incomprehensible — so, we 
are not perplexed in accounting for Mary Howitt's 
higher intellectual exhibitions, but how she could 
have grouped together the associations in " My 
own Story," playful childhood, or herself alone 
can unravel. 

There are ten other tales in this series by the 
same authoress; all manifestly designed to culti- 
vate the noblest domestic and social virtues — thrift 
and fidelity in employment ; exemption from need- 
less worldly anxiety ; assiduity in the path of 
duty ; trustfulness and hope ; the connection be- 
tween the work and the reward ; the advantages 
of uprightness, simplicity, and a straightforward 
estimate of worldly things ; and the encourage- 



AND THEIR CHILDREN. O 

ment to persevere in well-doing. The titles, ex- 
cept the story of Alice Franklin, aptly develop 
the prominent theme, which is explained and en- 
forced by apposite examples and admonitions and 
facts — u Hope on, Hope ever — Work and Wages 
— Strive and Thrive — Love and Money — Sowing 
and Reaping — Little Coin Much Care — No Sense 
like Common Sense — Which is the Wiser ? — and 
Who shall be Greatest V* 

Ellis Sarah Stickney. — The authoress of the 
a Women, Wives, Mothers, and Daughters of Eng- 
land,"' has contributed four of the tales in the 
first series; and they are marked with all the 
moral impressiveness and solicitude to elevate the 
female character and influence, which distinguish 
and render so acceptable her repeated literary 
efforts to meliorate the condition of her sex and 
thereby of mankind. 

First Impressions. — This gallery of portraits 
teaches the necessity of decorum, the value of a 
favorable decision on the minds of others in early 
acquaintance, the liability to deception, and cau- 
tion against being led astray. 

The Minister's Family and Somervillk Hall; 
— these are intended to exhibit the advantages of 
a prudent and well-ordered domestic establish- 
ment ; and beautifully indeed does the delineator 
of " Home" exemplify the peaceful domicils of 
purity, devotion, and peace. 

Dangers of Dining Out. — This is a narrative 
written to promote moderation in eating, and in re- 
ference to drinking toasts, with other appended 
usages of feudal barbarism, to impress the authori- 
tative mandate — " Touch not — Taste not — Han- 
dle not." 

Martineau Harriet. — The two Narratives 



6 TALES FOR THE PEOPLE 

which the Utilitarian Female Philosopher has sup- 
plied, well contrast with the other tales ; being 
exemplary descriptions of the worth of man when 
he fills up his appointed station in society, as su- 
perior to the merely adventitious circumstances of 
social existence. They are suitable for youth, 
especially the Crofton Boys, teaching them how 
to combine the useful and the agreeable, in the 
most eligible and advantageous manner. The 
other volume contains two historical narratives — 
" The Peasant" is a concise delineation of coun- 
try life in France, amid the interest excited by the 
temporary presence of the nobles. " The Prince" 
is a portrait of the French Dauphin, son of Louis 
XVI. of France, combined with brief details of 
some of the most affecting scenes of the Gallic 
Revolution of 1789 ; and is replete with historical 
and moral instruction. 

Mrs. Guizot's Young Student is a tale rich in 
its moral and exemplary impressiveness, adapted 
to all scholars and collegians. The state of 
academical and common society on the European 
Continent, without doubt, essentially differs from 
the condition of America in that respect ; but the 
cardinal principles of morals are the same ; and 
in the general application of them the lessons to 
be learned are identical. There is noble instruc- 
tion to be derived from the " Young Student," both 
for warning and encouragement. 

Mrs. Copley's two volumes, Early Friendship, 
and especially the Poplar Grove, are rather more 
imaginative than the tales by Mary Howitt. They 
subserve, however, very efficiently the same great 
purpose of amending the dispositions and propen- 
sities of the youthful reader ; and by illustrating 
the waywardness of human life, in a different form, 



AND THEIR CHILDREN. 7 

enlarge those views of society by which youth 
may be admonished and benefited. 

Mrs. Sandham's " Twin Sisters/' and Mrs. 
Cameron's " Farmer's Daughter," are very in- 
teresting and instructive portraits for junior fe- 
males ; and we know not scarcely how the most 
amiable social qualities and the most useful do- 
mestic habits can be inculcated in the subordinate 
form with more efficacy, than by such almost 
breathing and moving personifications of sisterly 
endearment and enchanting housewifery. Ma- 
trons and maidens, grandmothers, and " girls in 
their teens," all will read these volumes to edifica- 
tion. 

Mr. Arthur's tale entitled, " Tired of House- 
keeping," is an exact picture from the living ex- 
amples around us, drawn with all the precision of 
Daguerreotyped reality. Young women who are 
anticipating marriage, and the wedded ladies just 
commencing the superintendence of domestic af- 
fairs, will learn more household wisdom from Mr. 
Arthur's paintings of kitchens and parlors, and in 
a pleasing form, than a seven years' apprentice- 
ship of fire-side disappointment and vexation could 
teach them. 

Captain Marryatt has furnished five volumes, 
comprising a land story and a tale of the sea. 
"Masterman Ready" contains the details of a 
shipwreck, the deliverance of the family of pas- 
sengers, and the daily and countless expedients 
which were adopted in their desolate situation to 
supply their wants and to secure comfort, with the 
account of their rescue from the desert rocky 
island on which they were cast. " Settlers in 
Canada" is the land counterpart of Masterman 
Ready's nautical contrivances. A refined and 



8 TALES FOR THE PEOPLE. 

well-educated family leave Britain, migrate from 
Quebec to the upper end of Lake Ontario, " squat" 
among the encircling Indians, and during a series 
of years, pass through all the dangers, hardships, 
and privations of that state of life, prior to the in- 
roads of the present rapidly-changing processes of 
civilization. There are great truth and forceful- 
ness, with vivid description and exciting scenes, in 
both these works ; and they are rich in wise sug- 
gestions to produce industry, fortitude, inflexibility 
in vanquishing obstacles, and perseverance with 
the hope of success, and the determination to ob- 
tain it. " Masterman Ready" should be a passen- 
ger in every ship that goes " down to the sea," and 
the history of the " Settlers in Canada" should be 
a hand-book in every farm-house and log-cabin. 
Sailors may learn new rules of navigation from 
" Masterman Ready;" and backwoodsmen will 
find their comfort indefinitely enlarged by taking 
lessons from the " Settlers in Canada." 

The whole first series of " Tales for the People 
and their Children," will be found to be a very 
suitable library for youth of both sexes ; unfolding, 
not the aristocratic exterior, but the middle and 
best portion of modern society, in all truthfulness, 
and with high moral improvement. 

Nbw York, April 5, 1845. 



BOOKS 

IN THE VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS 

OF 

PUBLISHED BY 

D, APPLETON & CO., NEW-YORK, 

AND 

GEORGE S. APPLETON, PHILADELPHIA. 



HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION 

OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. By Gilbert Burnet, 
D.D., late Bishopof Salisbury. With a collection of Records, 
and a copious Index, revised and corrected, with additional 
Notes and a Preface, by the Rev. E. Nares, D.D. Illustrated 
with a Frontispiece and 23 Portraits on steel. Form- 
ing four elegant 8vo vols, of near 600 pages each. $8 00. 

To the student either of civil or religious history, no epoch can be of more 
importance than that of the Reformation in England. It signalized the 
overthrow, in one of its strongest holds, of the Roman power, and gave an 
impulse to the human mind, the full results of which are even now but 
partly realized. Almost all freedom of inquiry— all toleration in matters of 
religion, had its birth-hour then ; and witnout a familiar acquaintance with 
all its principal events, but little progress can be made in understanding 
the nature and ultimate tendencies of the revolution then effected 

The History of Bishop Burnet is one of the most celebrated and by fax 
the most frequently quoted of any that has been written of this gTeat event. 
Upon the original publication of the first volume, it was received in 
Great Britain with the loudest and most extravagant encomiums. The 
author received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, and was request- 
ed by them to continue the work. In continuing it he had the assistance of 
the most learned and eminent divines of his time ; and he confesses his in 
debtedness for important aid to Lloyd, Tillotson and Stillingfleet, 
three of the greatest of England's Bishops. " I know," says he, in his Pre- 
face to the second volume, " that nothing can more effectually recommend 
this work, than to say that it passed with their hearty approbation, after 
they had examined it with that 'care which their great zeal for the cause con 
cernedinit, and their goodness to the author and freedom with him, obliged 
them to use." 

The present edition of this great work has been edited with laborious 
care by Dr. Nares, who professes to have corrected important errors into 
which the author fell, and to haw made such improvements in the order of 
the work as will render it far more useful to the reader or historical student. 
Preliminary explanations, full and sufficient to the clear understanding of 
the author, are given, and marginal references are made throughout the 
book, so as greatly to facilitate and render accurate its consultation. The 
whole is published in four large octavo volumes of six hundred pages in 
each — printed upon heavy papei in large and clear type. V, contains por- 
traits of twenty-four of the most celebrated characters of tg* Reformation, 
and is issued in a very neat style. It will of course find a place In every 
theologian's library— and will, by no means, we trast, foe confined to) &at 
comparatively limited sphere. 



3 D. Applelon $ CoSs Catalogue of Valuable Works. 

BURNET ON THE XXXIX. ARTICLES. 
An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of Eng- 
land. By Gilbert Burnet, D.D., late Bishop of Salisbury, 
With an Appendix, containing the Augsburg Confession — Creed 
of Pope Pius IV , &c. Revised and corrected, with copious 
Notes and additional References, i?y the Kev. James R. Page, 
A.M., of Queen's College, CamDridge. In one handsome 8vo 
volume. $2 00. 

" No Churchman, no Theologian, can stand in need of information as tt> 
the character or value of Bishoo Burnet's exposition, wnicn long since took 
its fitting place as one of tne acknowledged and admired standards of tne 
Church. It is only needful that we speak of the labour of tne editor or '.na 
present eamon, and these aooear to bler.c & nttmg modesty wiLn eminent 
industry and judgment. Thus, while Mr. .Page nas carei');iy vennea, and 
in many instances corrected ana enlarged the references to the Fathers, 
Councils and otner authorities, and greasy multiplied the Scripture citations 
—for the Bishop seems in many cases to have forgotten that his readers 
would not all be as familiar with the Sacred Test as himself, and might not 
as readiiy find a passage even when they Knew it existed— ue 'Mr. P.) has 
scrupulously left the text untouched, and added whatever illustrative nat- 
ter he has been able to gather in the form of Notes and an Appendix. 
TLe documents collected~in the latter are of great and abiding vaiue." 

PEARSON ON THE CREED. 

An Exposition of the Creed. By John Pearson, D.D., late 
Bishop of Chester. With an Appendix, containing the Principal 
Greek and Latin Creeds. Revised and corrected by the Rev. 
W. S. Dobson, M.A., Peterhouse, Cambridge. In one hanasome 
8vo. volume. $2 00. 

The following may be stated as the advantages of this edition over all others 
First — Great care has been taken to correct the numerous errors in the 
references to the texts of Scripture which had crept in by reason of the re- 
peated editions through which this admirable work has passed ; and many 
references, as will be seen on turning to the Index of Texts, have been added. 
Secondly— The Quotations in the Notes have been almost universally 
identified and the references to them adjoined. 

Lastly— The principal Symbola or Creeds, of which the particular Articles 
have been cited by the author, have been annexed ; and wherever the ori* 
ginal writers have given the Symbola in a scattered and disjointed manner, 
the detached parts have been brought into a successive and connected point 
of view. These have been added in chronological order in the form of an 
Appendix.— Vide Editor. 

JUagee on Monement and Sacrifice. 

Discourses and Dissertations on the Scriptural Doctrines of Atone- 
ment and Sacrifice, and on the Principal Arguments advanced, 
and the Mode of Reasoning employed by the Opponents of 
those Doctrines, as held by the Established Church. By the 
late most Rev. Wm. M'Gee, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. 
Two vols, royal 8vo. beautifully printed. $5 00. 

" This is one of the ablest critical and polemical works of modern times. Archbishop Mitgee 1 
ruly a maUus hereticohtm. He is an excellent scholar, an acute reasoner, and is possessed of a 
■Met extensive acquaintance vritn the wide held of argument to which his volumes are devoted — the 
exofoand Biblical information on a variety of topics whiab the Archbishop bring* forward, mo* av-' 
itir Ut nasBe tfrafl loreri ff BhristteSq?: **— iJrfin, 



D. Appletcm <$• Co.'s Catalogue of Valuable Work*. 

PALMER'S 

TREATISE ON THE CHURCH. 

4. Treatise on the Church of Christ. Designed chiefly for the 
use of Students in Theology. By the Rev. William Palmer, 
M.A., of Worcester College, Oxford. Edited, with Notes, by 
the Right Rev. W. R. Whittingham, D.D., Bishop of the Pro- 
tcstant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Maryland. Two 
vols. 8vo., handsomely printed on fine paper. $5 00. 

"The treatise of Mr. Palmer is the best exposition and vindication of Church Principle 
that we have ever read ; excelling contemporaneous treatises in depth of learning and soli- 
dity of Judgment, as much as it excels older treatises on the like subjects, in adaptation to 
the wants and habits of the age. Of its influence in England, where it has passed through 
two editions, we have not the means to form an opinion ; but we believe that in this country 
it has already, even before its reprint, done more to restore the sound tone of Catholic prin- 
ciples and feeling than any other one work of the age. The author's learning and powers of 
combination and'arrangement, great as they obviously are, are less remarkable than the sterU 
ing good sense, the vigorous and solid judgment, which is everywhere manifest in the trea- 
tise, and confers on it its distinctive excellence. Tbe style of the author is distinguished for 
dignity and masculine energy, while his tone is everywhere natural; on proper occasions, 
reverential ; and always, so far as we remember, sufficiently conciliatory. 

" To our clergy and intelligent laity, who desire to see the Church justly discriminated 
from Romanists on the one hand, and dissenting denominations on the other, we earnestly 
" Palmer's Treatise on the Church."— JV. Y. Churchman. 



PAROCHIAL SERMONS, 

BY JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, B.D., 

Fellow of the Oriel College and Vicar of St. Mary the Virgin's, 
Oxford. The six volumes of the London edition complete in 
two elegant 8vo. volumes of upwards of 600 pages each. <$5 00. 

§CT Mr. Newman's Sermons have probably attained a higher charactei 
than any others ever published in this country. The following recom- 
mendatory letter (is one of the many) received by the publishers during 
their progress through the press. 

From the Bishop of North Carolina. 

Raleigh, Not. 28, 1842. 
Your letter announcing your intention to repuhlish the Parochial Sermons of the Rev. Join 
Henry Newman, B.D., Oxford, has given me sincere pleasute. In complying with your 
request for my opinion of them, I do not hesitate to say, — after a constant use of them in my 
closet, and an observation of their effect upon some of my friends, for the last six years, — that 
they are among the very best practical sermons in the English language ; that while they ara 
free from those extravagances of opinion usually ascribed to the author of the 90th Tract, 
they assert in the strongest manner the true doctrines of the Reformation in England, and en 
force with peculiar solemnity and effect that holiness of life, with the means thereto, so char- 
acteristic of the Fathers of that trying age. With high respect and esteem, your friend and 
•errant, L.S.IVES. 

HARE'S PAROCHIAL SERMONS. 

Sermons to a Country Congregation. By Augustus William 
Hare, A.M., late Fellow of New College, and Rector of Alton 
Barnes. One volume, royal 8vo. $2 25. 

** Any one who can be pleased with delicacy of thought expressed in th~ most simple lan- 
guage — any one who can feel the charm of finding practical duties eluciaa'ved and enforced 
By apt and varieu iilustrations-.-will be delighted with this volume, which presents ua with tb# 

«rkings of a piou» and highly gifted mind.' *^Quar. Revieut. 



i D, Appleton $- Co.'s Catalogue of Valuable Works, 

THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST; 

O, Hints respecting the Principles, Constitution, und Ordinances 
of the Catholic Church. By Frederick Denison Maurice, 
M.A. Chaplain of Guy's Hospital, Professor of English Litera 
ture and History, King's College, London. In one elegant oc 
tavo volume of 600 pages, uniform in style with Newraan'a 
Sermons, Palmer on the Church, &c. $2 50. 

" Mr. Maurice's work is eminently fitted to engage the attention and meet the want? of aA 
fcfterested in the several movements that are now taking place iu the religions community ; it 
takes up the pretensions generally of the several Protestant denominations and of the Ro- 
manists, so as to commend itself in the growing interest in the controversy between the lat- 
ter and their opponents. The political portion of the work contains much that is attractive 
to a thoughtful man, of any or of no religious persuasion, in reference to the existing and pos- 
sible future state of our country." 

A MANUAL FOR COMMUNICANTS; 

Or the Order for Administering the Holy Communion ; conveniently ar- 
ranged with Meditations and Prayers from Old English Divines, being 
the Eucharistica of Samuel Wilberforce, M.A., Archdeacon of Surry, 
(adapted to the American service.) Convenient size for the pocket 
37£ cents— gilt edges 50 cents. 

" These meditations, prayers, and expositions, are given in the very words of the illustri- 
ous divines, martyrs, confessors, and doctors of the Church ; and they form altogether 
such a body of instructive matter as is nownere else to be found in the same cura- 
paas. Though collected from various authors, the whole is pervaded by a unity of spirit and 
purpose; and we most earnestly commend the work as better fitted than any other which 
we know, to subserve the ends of sound edification and fervent and substantial devotion. 
The American reprint has been edited by a deacon of great promise in the Church, and is ap« 
fropriately dedicated to the Bishop of this diocese." — Churchman. 



OGILBY ON LAY-BAPTISM: 

An Outline on the Argument against the Validity of Lay-Baptism. By tfhe 
Rev. John D. Ogilby, A.M., Professor of Ecclesiastical History. Ons 
volume 12mo., 75 cents. 

"We hare been favoured with a copy of the above work, and lose no time in announcing 
its pnblieation. From a cursory inspection of it, we take it to bs a thorough, fearless, and 
Terjrable discussion of the subject which it proposes, aiming less to excite inquiry, than to 
Ktisfy, by learned and ingenious argument, inquiries already excited."— Churchman. 

THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF 
E LECTI O N : 

Or, an Historical Inquiry into the Ideality and Causation of Scriptural 
Election, as received and maintained in the Primitive Cnurcn oi Christ. 
By George Stanley Faber, B.D., author of " Difficulties of Romanism,' 
"Difficulties of Infidelity," &c. Complete in one volume octavo. $1 75. 

•* Mr. Faber verifies his opinion by demonstration. We cannot pay a higher respect to bj» 
wore than by rec«romendin<' il to aU "—Church of England Quarterly Jlevitw. 



D. Jppleton $ Co.'s Catalogue of Valuable Works. 



CHURCHMAN'S LIBRARY. 

The volumes of this series pre of a standard character and highly recom- 
mended by the Bishops and Clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

THE PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN; 

Or, Devout Penitent. By R. Sherlocke, D.D., with a Life of the Author, 0} 
the Right Rev. Bishop Wilson. One elegant volume. 16mo. 75 cents. 

THE CHURCHMAN'S COMPANION IN THE CLOSET; 

Or, a Complete Manual of Private Devotions. Collected from the writings of 
Archbishop Laud, Bishop Anv vwes. Bisnop Ken, Dr. Hickes, Mr. Kettle- 
well, Mr. Spinckes, and other eminent old English Divines. With a Pre- 
face by Rev. Mr. Spinckes. Edited by Francis E.Paget. M. A. One e.e 
gant volume, 16mo. $1 00. 

OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. 

Four books, by Thomas a Kempis, a new and complete edition, elegantly 
printed. 1 vol. 16mo. $1 00. 

THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH; 

Or, Christian Histcuy of England in early British; Saxon, and Norman Times 
By the P-ev. Edward Churton, M.A. With a Preface by the Right Rev. 
Bishop Ives. 1 vol. 16mo., elegantly ornamented. $1 00 

LEARN TO DIE, 

Disce Mori, Learn to Die : a Religious Discourse, moving every Christian 
mau to enter into a serious Remembrance of his End. By Christopher Sut 
ton, D.D., late Prebend of Westminster. 1 vol. 16mo., elegantly orna- 
mented. $1 00. 

SACRA PRIVATA : 

The Private Meditations, Devotions, and Prayers of the Right Rev. T. Wil- 
son, D.D., Lord Bishop of Soder and Man. First complete edition. I voL 
royal 16mo., elegantly ornamented. $1 00 

MEDITATIONS ON TH E SACRAMENT. 

Godly Meditations upon the most Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. By 
Christopher Sutton, D.D., late Prebend of Westminster. 1 vol.,royal lGmo., 
elegantly ornamented. $1 00. 

A DISCOURSE CONCERNING PRAYER 

And the frequenting Daily Public Prayer. By Symon Patrick, D.D., sometime 
Lord Bishop of Ely. Edited by Francis E. Paget, M.A., Chaplain to the 
Lcrd Bishop of Oxford. 1 vol. royal 16mo., elegantly ornamented. 75 ce&a 

THOUGHTS IN PAST YEARS. 

4 beautiful collection of Poetry, chiefly Devotional. By the author of " The 
Cathedral." 1 vol. royal 16mo., elegantly printed. $1 25. 

THE CHRISTMAS BELLS: 

A Tale of Holy Tide, and other Poems. By the author of " Constance,* 
"Virginia," &c 1 vol. royal 16mo.. elegantly ornamented. 7S cents. 



D Jljrpleton fy Co.'s Catalogue of Valuable, Works. 
CHURCHMAN'S LIBRARY.— Continued. 

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 

By the Rev. Henry Edward Manning, M. A., Archdeacon of Chichester 

Complete in one elegant volume, I6mo. Price $1 00. 

This work is considered by several of the Bishops and Clergy of Engl&sd 
and this country, to be the most able treatise on the subject. 

TALES OF THE VILLAGE; 

In which the Principles of the Romanist, Churchman, Dissenter, and Infidel, 
are contrasted. By the Rev. Fiancis E. Paget, M. A. In three elegant 
vols. 18mo. $1 75. 

LEARN TO LIVE. 

Disce Vivere — Learn to Live. Wherein is shown that the Life of Christ is 
and ought to be an express pattern for imitation unto the life of a Chris- 
tian. By Christopher Sutton, D. D. One elegant vol. 16mo. Price $1 00. 

THE DOUBLE WITNESS OF THE CHURCH. 

By the Rev. Wm. Ingraham Kip, author of " Lenten Fast." One elegant 
volume, lGmo., of 415 pages. Price $1 25. 

THE RECTORY OF VALEHEAD. 

By the Rev. R. W. Evans. From the Twelfth English edition. One ele 

gantly printed volume. 75 cents. 

" We believe no person could read this work and not be the better fc? kt 
pious- and touching lessons." — London Lit. Gazette. 

PORTRAIT OF A CHURCHMAN. 

By the Rev. W. Gresley, A. M. From the Seventh English edition, Ooa 

elegant volume, 16mo. 75 cents. 

" The main part of this admirable volume is occupied upon the illustra- 
tration of the practical icorking of Church principles when sincerely received, 
setting forth their value in the commerce of daily life, and how surely they 
conduct those who embrace them in the safe and quiet path of holy life.** 

LYRA APOSTOLICA. 

From the Fifth English edition. One elegantly printed volume. 75 centa. 
This volume contains some of the choicest verses by the most eminent 
Divines of the present century. 

BISHOP JEREMY TAYLOR ON EPISCOPACY. 

The Sacred Order and OSces of Episcopacy Asserted and Maintained ; t* 
which is added, Clerus Domini, a Discourse on the Office Ministerial 
By the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D. One elegant volume, lCaua 
Price $1 00. 

The reprint in a portable form of this eminent Divine's unanswer&bH 
Defence of Episcopacy, cannot fail of being welcomed by every churchman 

THE GOLDEN GROVE. 

A choice Manual, containing what is to be believed, practised, and desired, 
of prayed for; the prayers being fitted for the several days oftheweek. 
To which is added, a Guide for the Penitent, or a Model drawn up for ths 
help of devout souls wounded with sin. Also, Festival Hymns, &c By 
the Bight Rev Bishop Jeremy Taylor, D. 1). One volume, 16mo. SO 50 



IX Appleton $ Co.'s Catalogue of Valuable Works. 

FTTSTORYOF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 

Translated from the French of M. Laurent De L'Ardeche, Mem- 
ber of the Institute of France. Illustrated with Five Hundred 
Spirited Plates, after designs by Horace Vernet, and twenty 
Original Portraits of the most distinguished Generals of France. 
2 vols. 8vo. $4 00. 
All the leading journals have spoken in the most unqualified 

praise of this work. The following is from the Boston Traveller : 

* At a chaste, condensed, faithful, and accurate memoir of the Great Captain, it li worthy of 
much attention. The author has mainly drawn the necessary facta of his history from the letters, 
speeches, manifestoes, bulletins, and other state papers of Napoleon, and has given a considerable 
number of these in his text. 

*• The work is superior to the long verbose productions of Scott and Bourrienne— not in style 
alone, but in truth— being written to please neither Charles X. nor the English aristocracy— but 
for the cause of freedom. It has advantages ever every other memoir extant. " 

THE BOOK OF THE NAVY; 
Comprising a General History of the American Marine, and parti 
cular Accounts of all the most Celebrated Naval Bat ties, from the 
Declaration of Independence to the present time, compiled from 
the best authorities. By John Frost, Professor of Belles Lettres 
in the High School of Philadelphia. With an Appendix, con- 
taining Naval Songs, Anecdotes, &c. Embellished with nume- 
rous original Engravings and Portraits of distinguished Naval 
Commanders. Complete in one handsome volume, 8vo. $100. 

" This elegant volume is dedicated to the present Secretary of theNavy^ and is altogether a very 
faithful and historical record. It comprises twenty-two chapters, detailing the prominent events 
connected with the naval history of the American federal republic. To die narrative is subjoined 



an appendix of seventy pages, including thirty -two very interesting characteristic anecdotes, nine- 
t lyrical poems, and a minute chronolc 

sriatefy adorned with steel engraved portraits, numerous vigm 
tibhs of various conflicts. The Book of die Navy deserves, and will doubtless have^ a~very extend- 



yrical poems, and a minute chronological table of events in American Naval History. It is 



appropriately adorned with steel engraved portraits, numerous vignettes, and full page representa 
tionsof various conflicts. The Book of di 
«d circulation."— National Intelligencer, 

INCIDENTS OF A WHALING VOYAGE. 
To which is added Observations on the Scenery, Manners, and 
Customs, and Missionary Stations of the Sandwich and Society 
Islands, accompanied by numerous plates. By Francis Allyn 
Olmsted. One handsome volume, 12mo. $1 50. 

PICTORIAL VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. 
The Vicar of Wakefield. By Oliver Goldsmith. Elegantly illus* 
trated with nearly 200 Engravings, making a beautiful volume, 
octavo, of about 350 pages. $1 25. 

"We love to turn back over these rich old classics of our own language, and rejuvinate ourselves 
by the never -failing associations which a re-perusal always calls up. Let any one who has not 
read this immortal tale for fifteen or twenty years, try the experiment, and we will warrant, that he 
rvse* up from the task — the pleasure we should have said — a happier and a better man." — Sav. Rep* 

PICTORIAL ROBINSON CRUSOE. 

The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. By Daniel De 
Foe. With a Memoir of the Author, and an Essay on his 
Writings, illustrated with nearly 500 spirited Engravings, by 
the celebrated French artist, Grandvilie, forming one elegant 
volume, octavo, of 500 pages. $1 75. 

«* Waa there ever anything written by mere man that the reader wished longer, except RoUseon 
Crusoe, Don Quixotte, and the Pilgrim's Progress V'—Dr. Johnson. 
** U&ws£9£v thai this the moat moral of romance*, ia not caiy the mo*', abarming of boekl tot* 

the mw uatfmc? 1 v*. -— a. tjnaomrt^ 



D. Appleton $ Co.'s Catalogue of Valuable Works 

GENERAL HISTORY OF CIVILIZAtToT 

n Europe, from the fall of th^ Roman Empire, to the French Revolution 
By M. Guizot, Professor oi History to the Faculty des Lettres of Paris 
Printed from the second English edition, with Occasional Notes, by C. S 
Henry, D.D., of New- York. One handsome volume, 12mo. $100. 

The third edition of this valuable work has just appeared, with numer^ 
ous and useful notes, by Professor Henry, of the University of New-York 
M. Guizot, in his instructive lectures has given an epitome of Modern His 
fcory, distinguished by all the merits which in another department, renders 
31ackstone a subject of such peculiar and unbounded praise ; a work close 
.7 condensed, including no'.hing useless and omitting nothing essential- 
written with grace, and conceived and arranged with consummate ability. 

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SOCIETY 

IN THE EARBAROUS AND CIVILIZED STATE. 
An Essay towards Discovering the Origin and Course of Human Improve 
ment. By W. Cooke Taylor, LL.D., &c, of Trinity College, Dublin, 
Handsomely printed on fine paper. 2 vols. 12mo $2 25. 
" The design of this work is to determine, from an examination of the 
various forms in which society has been found, what was the origin o* 
civilization ; and under what circumstances those attributes of humanity 
which in one country become the foundation of social happiness, are in ark- 
other perverted to the production of general misery.' 

CARLYLE ON HISTORY 56 HEROES. 

On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History. Six Lectures, re 
ported with Emendations and Additions, by Thomas Carlyle, author of 
the French Revolution, Sartor Resartus, &c. Elegantly printed in 1 
vol. 12mo. Second edition. $1 00. 

" And here we must close a work — such as we have seldom seen the 
like of, and one which redeems the literature of our superficial and manu 
facturing period. It is one to purify our nature, expand our ideas, and ex- 
alt our souls. Let no library or book-room be without it ; the more it is 
studied the more it will be esteemed." — Literary Gazette. 

SOUTHEY'S POETICAL WORKS. 

Hie Complete Poetical Works of Robert Southey, Esq., LL.D. The ten 
volume London edition in one elegant royal 8vo. volume, with a fine por 
trait and vignette. $3 50. 
*,* This edition, which the author has arranged and revised with the 

aame care as if it were intended for posthumous publication, includes many 

pieces which either have never before been collected, or have hitherto re 

saained unpublished. 

SCHLEGEUS PHILOSOPHY OF 
HISTORY. 

Tie Philosophy of History, in a course of Lectures delivered at Vienna, by 
Frederick von Schlegel, translated from the German, with a Memoir of 
the Author, by J. B Robertson. Handsomely printed on fine paper. 2 
vols. 12mo. $2 50. 

THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Edited by his son, John C. Hamilton. 2 vols. 8vo. $5 00. 
" We cordial^ recommend the perusal and diligent study of these vol- 
am es, exhibiting as they do, much valuable matter relative to the Revo- 
ution, the «^.ab ishment of the Federal Constitution, and other important 
~veflts Ann aJs of our country."— New-York Review: 



D. Apple-ton $ CoSs Catalogue of Valuable Works. 

THE NEW PURCHASE; 

©r, Seven and a Half Years in the Far West. By Robert Carlton, 

Alter et Idem. 

Two handsome volumes 12mo. $1 50. 

* * This work is characterized by much original humour and information. 

A GALLOP AMONG AMERICAN SCENERY. 

By Augustus E. Silliman. Oue elegantly printed volume. 16mo. 75 ceota. 

THE AMERICAN IN EGYPT. 

With Rambles through Arabia-Petraea and the Holy Land, during tit© 
years 1839-40 

By James Ewing Cooley. Illustrated witn numerous Steel Engravings, 
also Etchings and Designs by Johnston. One handsome volume, octavo, ol 
610 pages. $2 00. Cheap edition, paper covers, $1 00 

u No other volume extant can give the reader so true a picture of what he would be likely 
lo see and meet in Egypt. So other book is more practical and plain in its picture of precisely 
what the traveller himself will meet. Other writers have one account to give of their jour- 
ney on paper, and another to relate in conversation. Mr. Cooley has but one story for the 
fireside circle and the printed page." — Brother Jonathan. 

THE FLAG SHIP ; 

OR A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, 
In the United States Frigate Columbia, attended by her consort, the Sloop oi 
War John Adams, and bearing the broad pennant of Commodore George C. 
Read. By Fitch W. Taylor, Chaplain to the Squadron. 2 vols. 12mo. 
plates. $2 50. 

TOO THROUGH TURKEY AND PERSIA. 

Narrative of a Tour through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia and Mesopotamia, 
with an introduction and Occasional Observations upon the Condition of 
Mohammedanism and Christianity in those countries. By the Rev. Horatie 
Southgate, Missionary of the American Episcopal Church. 2 vols. 12ma. 
plates. $2 00. 

SCOTLAND AND THE SCOTCH; 

OR THE WESTERN CIRCUIT. 
By Catharine Sinclair, Author of Modern Accomplishments, Modern Society* 
<fec. <fcc. 1 vol. 12mo. $0 75. 

SHETLAND AND THE SHETLANDERS ; 

OR THE NORTHERN CIRCUIT. 
By Catharine Sinclair, Author of Scotland and the Scotch, Holiday Home 
Ac. &c. 1 vol. 12mo. $0 87£. 

HANDY ANDY . — a tale of irish life. 

I$y Samuel Lover, author of " Rory O'More," •• The Gridiron," &c. Illustrated 
•with twenty-two characteristic illustrations from designs by the Author. One 
handsome volume, cloth gilt. $1 25. The same in boards, $1 00. The 
same with only two plates, in paper covers, 50 cents. 

WITH TWENTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS BY DICK KITCAT, 

THE FORTUNES OF HECTOR O'HALLORAN, 

AND HIS MAN MARK ANTONY o'TOOLE. 
By W. H. MAXWELL, Esq. 
>fle elegant volume, cloth gilt. $1 25, in boards. $1 00 — in paper coveis wi^» 
only two plates, 50 cents 



D. Appkton $> Co. s Catutoguc of Valuable 1F?8ft*. 13 

A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES AND MINES, 

Containing a clear exposition of their Prmc pies and Practice. By Andrew 
Ure, M.D., F.R.S., &c. &c. Illustrated with One Thousand Two Hundred 
and Forty-one Engravings on wood. Containing- upwards of 1300 closely 
printed pages, forming one very thick volume 8vo., strongly bound in 
shoep. $5 00. ID 3 The same work bound in two volumes. $5 50. 

In every point of view a work like the present can but be regarded as a benefit done to theo- 
retical and practical science, to commerce and industry, aid an important addition to a spe- 
cies of literature the exclusive production of the present century, and the present state of 
peace and civilization. Criticisms in favour of its intrinsic value to all classes of the commu- 
nity might be prodaced, :f space would permit, from upwards of three hundred of the leading 
journals in Europe and tnis country. 

" This useful and most excellent work, which has been issuing in Monthly Numbers, fot 
some time past, is now completed. It is a publication of most decided and permanent value, 
one of which no library should be destitute. It is tilled with information upon precisely those 
subjects with which every one should be familiar, upon the practical operations of the arts, 
the scientific principles and processes c , ( >cbanics, and the history of all improvements ia 
every department of Science and Industry. The author is a man of eminence and ability, and 
the work enjoys the highest reputation in England, where it was first published. We trust 
it will be welcomed by the intelligent of every class of our citizens. It is neatly printed, and 
illustrated with upwards of twelve hundred engravings." — N. Y. Tribune. 

HYDRAULICS AND MECHANICS. 

A Descriptive and Historical Account of Hydraulic and other Machines for 
Raising Water, inoluding the Steam and Fire Engines, ancient and mod- 
ern ; with Observations on various subjects connected with the Mechanic 
Arts ; including the Progressive Development of the Steam-Engine 
Descriptions of every variety of Bellows, Piston, and Rotary Pumps 
Fire Engines, WaterRams, Pressure Engines, Air Machines, Eolipiles 
&c. Remarks on Ancient Wells, Air Beds, Cog Wneels, Blowpipes. 
Bellows of various People, Magic Goblets, Steam Idols, and other Ma- 
chinery of Ancient Temples. To which are addea Experiments on Blow* 
ing and Spouting Tubes, and other original Devices, Nature's modes and 
Machinery for Raising Water. Historical notices respecting Siphons, 
Fountains, Water Organs, Clopsydrae, Pipes, Valves, Cocks, <fec. In five 
books. Illustrated by nearly Three Hundred Engravings. By Thomas 
Ewbank. One handsomely printed volume of six hundred pages. $3 50* 

HODGE ON THE STEAM-ENGINE. 

The Steam-Engine, its Origin and Gradual Improvement, from the time of 
Hero to the present day, as adapted to Manufactures, Locomotion ami 
Navigation. Illustrated with Forty-eight Plates in full detail, numerous 
Wood Cuts, &c. By Paul R. Hodge, C.E. 1 vol. folio of plates, and 
leiter-press in 8vo, $10 00. 

LAFEVER'S MODERN ARCHITECTURE. 

Beauties of Modern Architecture : coasting of Forty-eight Plates of Ori- 
ginal Designs, with Plans, Elevati ^s and Sections, also a Dictionary 
of Technical Terms ; the whole forming a complete Manual for the Prao 
tical Builder. By M. Lafever, Architect. 1 vol. large 8vo half bound. 
$6 00. 

LAFEVER'S STAIRCASE AND HAND-RAIL 
CONSTRUCTION. 

The Modern Practice of Stair-case and Hand-rail Construction, practically 
explained, in a series of Designs. By M. Lafever. Architect. With 
Plans and Elevations for Ornamental Villas. Fifteen Plates. 1 vol. 
large 8vo. $3 00. 
The works of Lafever are pronounced by practical men to be the most useful ever pai>> 



THE PRINCIPLES OF DIAGNOSIS. 

By Marshall Hall, N, D. F.R.S., &c. Second Edition, with many improve- 
ments. By Dr. John A> Sweet. 1 vol. Svo. $2 00 



4 D. Appleton $ Co Catalogue of Valuable Worh*. 



SCRIPTURE AND GEOLOGY. 

On the Relation between the Holy Scriptures and some parts of Geok gical 
Science. By John V k'E Smith, D.D., author of the " Scripture Testimony 
of the Messiah," &c. &c. 1 vol. 12mo. $125. 

" The volume consists of eight lectures, to which are appended seventy 
pages of supplementary notos. The first lecture is introductory ; the second 
it scientifically descriptive of the principal topics of geological science ; the 
third includes a research into the creation of our globe ; the fourth and fiftfe 
lectures comprise an examination of the deluge ; the sixth discusses the appa- 
rent dissonance between the decisions of geologists, and the hitherto re- 
ceived interpretation of Seripture, with an additional exposition of the diluvial 
heory; the seventh is devoted to illustration of the method to interpret the 
Scriptures, so that they may harmonize with the discoveries of geology ; the 
eighth is the peroration of the whole disquisition. 

WORKS BY THE REV. DR. SPRAGUE. 

TRUE AXD FALSE RELIGION. 

Lectures illustrating the Contrast between True Christianity and various 

< ther r ystenis. By William B. Sprague, D.D 1 vol. 12mo. $100. 

LECTURES ON REVIVALS IN RELIGION. 

Br W. B. Sprague, D.D. With an Introductory Essay by Leonard 
Woods, D.D. 1 vol. 12mo. 87i cents. 

LETTERS TO A DAUGHTER 

lull * cal Subjects. By W. B. Sprague, D.D. Fourth edition, revised 
and enlarged. 1 vol. 12mo. 75 cents. 

LECTURES TO YOUNG PEOPLE. 

By W. B. Sprague, D.D. With an Introductory Address. By Samuel 
Miller, D.D. Fourth edition. 1 vol. 12mo. 87£ cents. 

The writings of Dr. Sprague are too well known, and too highly estimated 
by the Christian community generally, to require any other encomium than 
is furnished by their own merits ; for this reason it is thought unnecessary to 
subjoin the favourable testimonies borne to their utility and excellence by the 
whole circle of the periodical press of this country, and the fact, that they 
have each passed through several editions in England, sufficiently attests the 
estimation in which they are held abroad. 

SPIRITUAL CHRISTIANITY. 

Lectures on Spiritual Christianity. By Isaac Taylor, author of " Spirituai 
Despotism," &c. &c. 1 vol 12mo. 75 cents. 

"This work is the production of one of tne most gifted and accomplished 
minds of the present age. If some of his former productions may have been 
thought characterized by too much metaphysical abstraction, and in some ; n- 
•tances, by speculations of doubtful importance the present volume is, we 
think, in no degree liable to this objection. It is indeed distinguished for deep 
thought and accurate discrimination; and whoever would read it to advantage 
must task his faculties in a much higher degree, than in reading ordinary 
books: and yet it contains nothing which an ordinary degree of intelligence 
and application may not readily comprehend. The view which it gives at 
Christianity, both as a system of truth and a system of duty, is in the highest 
degree instructive ; and its tendencies are not less to quicken the intellectual 
faculties, than to direct and elevate the moral sensibilities. We have no doubt 
that it will be read with great interest by those who read to find material* 
for thought, and that it is destined to exert a most important influence, espe- 
cially un the more intellectual classes in the advancement of the interest* of 
truth and piety."— Albany Evening Jourt.al 



D. Appletan $ CoSs Camhgue of Valuable Work*. f 

Works by Rev. Robert Philip. 

YOUNG MAN'S CLOSET LIBRARY. 

By Robert Philip. With an Introductory Essay by Rev. Albert Barnes. 1 *4. 

12mo. $1 CO. 

ZjOVE OF THE SPIRIT, Traced in his Work : a Companion to the Ex- 
perimental Guides. By Robert Philip. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

DEVOTIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL GUIDES. By Robert FhiBp. 
With an Introductory Essay by Rev. Albert Barnes. 2 vols. 12mo. $1 75. 
Containing- : 

Guide to the Doubting. 
Do. do. Conscientious. 



Guide to the Perplexed 
Do. do. Devotional 
Do. do. Thoughtful. 



Do. do. Redemption. 



LADY'S CLOSET LIBRARY. 

as follows: *.♦. 

THE MARYS ; or Beauty of Female Holines*. By Robert Philip. 1 vol 
18mo. 50 cents. 

THE MARTHAS; or Varieties of Female Piety. By Robert Philip. 1 vol 
18mo. 50 cts. 

THE LYDIA3 ; or Development of Female Character. By Robert Philip 
1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

The Maternal Series of the above popular Library is row ready, entitled, 

THE HANNAHS j or Maternal Influence of Sons. By Robert Philip 
1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

** The author of this work is known to the public as one of the most prolific writers of the 
day, and scarcely any writer in the department which he occupies, has acquired so exten- 
sive and well-merited a popularity. The pr-sent volume, as its title denotes, is devoted fcc 
an illustration of the influence of mothers on their sons; and the subject is treated with U« 
same originality and beauty which characterize the author's other works. It will be foiinc 
to be a most delightful and useful companion in the nursery, and its influence can hardly 
fail to be felt; firest, in quickening the sense of responsibility on the part of mothers; and 
next, in forming the character of the rising generation to a higher standard of intelligence 
and virtue."— Kvangelut. 



GEMS FROM TRAVELLERS. 

Illustrative of various passages in the Holy Scripture, with nearly one hundied 
Engravings. Among the authorities quoted will be found the following dis- 
tinguished names : Harmer, Laborde, Lane, Madden, Clarke, Pococke, 
Chandler, Malcom, Hartley, Russel, Jowitt, Carne, Shaw, Morier, Neibuhr 
Bruce, Calmet, H. Blunt, Belzoni, Lord Lindsay, <fec. <fcc. 1 vol 12mo 
$1 00. 

** The Holy Scriptures contain many passages full of importance and beauty, but not ge» 
oerally understood, because they contain allusion to manners and customs, familiar indeed 
to those to whom they were originally addressed, but imperfectly known to as. In order to 
obviate this difficulty, this volume is now presented to the public, consisting of extracts from 
the narratives of travellers who have recorded the customs of the oriental nations, from 
whom we learn that some usages were retained among them to this day, such as existed at 
the times when the Scriptures were written, and that these names are in many instances 
little changed since the patriarchal times. The compiler of this volume trusts that it may be 
the means, under God's providence, of leading unlearned readers to a more general ac- 
quaintance with Eastern customs, and asjist them to a clearer perception of the propriety 
•ad beauty of the illustrations so often drawn frotSJfiera in the Bib ft. 



D. Appleton # CoSs Catalogue of Valuable Works. 

Works by the Rev. John Angeil James. 

THE TRUE CHRISTIAN. 
By the Rev. John Angel l James With an Introduction by the Rev. Wm. 
Adams. 1 vol. 18mo $0 50. 

" We opine that the publishers of this volume made an accurate calculation when they 
labelled these * Addresses' — stereotyped; for they are among tile choice effusions which 
already have so highly benefited Christian society from the noble hear t and richly- 
endowed mind of Mr. James. They are ministerial counsels to the members of uis congre 
gation, and are offered as monthly epistles for a year, being twelve in number, and are thu» 
entitled: 'Increased Holiness of the Church; Spirituality of Mind: Heavenly Minded- 
nes»; Assurance of Hope; Practical Religion seen in every thing: A Profitable Sabbath $ 
Christian Obligations ; Life of Faith; Influence of elder Christians; Spirit of Prayer ; Pri- 
vate Prayer, and Self-Examination.' "—Christian Intelligencer. 

THE YOUNG- MAN FROM HOME. 

In a series of Letters, especially directed for the Moral Advancement nf Youth 

By the Rev. John Angell James. Tenth edition. 1 vol. 18mo. 371 cts 

"This work, from the able and prolific pen of Mr. James, is not inferior, we think, to any 
©f its predecessors. It contemplates a young man at the most critical period of life, and 
meets aim at every point as a guide in the paths of virtue, as a guard from the contagious 
influence of vice." — Albany Advertiser. 

THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSOR, 

Addressed in a series of Counsels and Cautions to the Members of Christian 

Churches. By the Rev. John Angell James. 1 vol. 18mo. 62£ cents. 

" The author remarks in this excellent volume: • When I look into the New Testament 
asd read what a Christian should be, and then look into the Church of God, and see what 
Christians are, I am painfully affected by observing the dissimilarity; and m my jealousy for 
the honour of the Christian profession, have made this effort, perhaps a feeble one, and cer 
takiiy an anxious one, to remove its blemishes, to restore its impaired beauty, and thus raise 
ta reputation.' " 

THE ANXIOUS ENQUIRER AFTER SALVATION 

Directed and Encouraged. By the Rev. John Angell James. 1 vol. 

18mo. 37f cents. 

Twenty thousand copies of this excellent little volume have already been 

•old, which fully attests the high estimation the work has attained with the 

religious community. 

HAPPINESS, ITS NATURE AND SOURCES. 

By the Rev. J. A. James. 1 vol. 32mo. 25 cents. 

u This is written "in the excellent author's best vein. He has, with a searching fidelity, 

exposed the various unsatisfying expedients by which the natural heart seeks to attain the 

great end and aim of all — happiness, and with powerful and toileting exhortations directed it 

to the never-failing source of all good. "— Evange'ist . 

THE WIDOW DIRECTED 
To the Widow's G-od. By the Rev. John A. James. 1 vol. 18mo. 37£ cents. 

44 The book is worthy to be read by others besides the class for which it is especially de- 
ngsed ; and we doubt not that it destined to come as a friendly visitor to many a house of 
mourning, and as a healing baim to many a wounded heart."— N. Y. Observer. 

CRUDEN'S CONCORDANCE. 

Containing all the Words to be found in the large Work relating to the New 
Testament. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cents. 

THE POLYMICRIAN NEW TESTAMENT. 
Numerous References, Maps, &c. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cents 

THE SACRED CHOIR: 

A COLLECTION OF CHURCH MUSIC: 
Censisting of Selections from the most distinguished authors, among whom 
are the names of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Pergolessi, &c. <fcc. 
-with several pieces of Music by the author ; also a Progressive Elementary 
System of Instruction for Pupils. By George Kingsley, author of the So- 
cut: (Jauij dec &« Fourth edition $0 75 



IX Appleton $Oo'6 Catalogue of Valuable Works. 

Cabinet Edition of the Poets. 



COWPER'S COMPLETE POETICAL 
WORKS. 

The complete Poetical Works of William Cowper, Esq., including 
the Hymns and. Translations from Mad. Guion, Milton, &c, and 
Adam, a Sacred Drama, from the Italian of Battista Aadreini, 
with a Memoir of the Author, by the Rev. Henry Stebbing, A.M. 
Two elegantly printed volumes, 400 pages each, 16mo., with 
beautiful frontispieces. $1 75. 

This is the only complete American edition. 
Morality never found in genius a more devoted advocate than Cowper, not 
has moral wisdom, in its plain and severe precepts, been ever more success 
fully combined with the delicate spirit of poetry, than in his works. H« 
was endowed with all the powers which a poet could want who was to be the 
moralist of the world — the reprover, but not the satirist, of men— the teacher 
of simple truths, which were to be rendered gracious without endangering 
their simplicity. 

BURNS' COMPLETE POETICAL 
WORKS. 

The complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, with Explanatory 
and Glossarial Notes, and a Life of the Author, by James Cur- 
rie,M.D. 1 vol. 16mo. Si 25. 

This is the most complete edition which has been published, and contains 
•he whole of the poetry comprised in the edition lately edited by Cunningham, 
as well as some additional pieces ; and such notes have been added as are cal- 
culated to illustrate the manners and customs of Scotland, so as to render the 
whole more intelligible to the English reader. 

" No poet, with the exception of Shakspeare, ever possessed the power ol 
exciting the most varied and discordant emotions with such rapid transitions." 
— Sir W. Scott. 

MILTON'S COMPLETE POETICAL 
WORKS. 

The complete Poetical Works of John Milton, with Explanatory 
Notes and a Life of the Author, by the Rev. Henry Stebbing, 
A. M. Beautifully illustrated. 1 vol. 16mo. $1 25. 

Hie Latin and Italian Poems are included in this edition. 

Mr. Stebbing's notes will be found very useful in elucidating the learned 
allusions with which the text abounds, and they are also valuable for the 
correct appreciation with which the writer directs attention to the beao- 
ties of the author. 

SCOTT'S POETICAL WORKS. 

The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. — Containing Lay 
of the Last Minstrel, Marmion, Lady of the Lake, Don Rode- 
rick, Rokeby, Ballads, Lyrics, and Songs, with a Life of the 
Author. Uniform with Cowper, Burns, &c. 1 vol. 16mo Si 25. 
u Waker Scott is the most popular of all the poets of the present day, and de- 
tervedly so. He describes that which is most easily and generally understood 
with more vivacity and effect than any other writer. His style is clear, flowing 
and transparent ; his sentiments, of which his style is an easy and natural rue 
*"»irn, are common to him with his readers." — Hazlitt. 



D. JSvpleton fy Co.'s Catalogue of Valuable Publications. 
THE YOUNG STUDENT; 

Or, Ralph and Victor. By Madame Guizot. From the French, by Samuel 
Jackson. One elegant volume of 500 pages, with illustrations. Price 75 
cents. 

"This volume of biographical incidents is a striking picture of juvenile 
life. To all that numberless class of youth who are passing through their 
literary education, whether in boarding-schools or academies, in the colle- 
giate course, or the preparatory studies connected with them, we know 
nothing more precisely fitted to meliorate their character, and direct their 
course, subordinate to the higher authority of Christian ethics, than this 
excellent delineation of ' The Young Student,' by Madame Guizot. It is a 
perfect reflecting mirror, in which the whole race may behold the resolution, 
the impetuosity, and the disobedient tendencies of their own hearts, a9 ex- 
emplified in the history of Ralph ; and the moral daring, dignity, and triumph, 
exhibited by Victor. But it is not the son alone who is taught by Madame 
Guizot — every father, also, who has children still under the age of manhood, 
and even ' grandpas,' can derive rich edification from the example of Ralph's 
lather and - Victor's guardianship. The French Academy were correct in 
their judgment when they pronounced Madame Guizot's Student the best 
took of the year." — JV. Y. Courier fy Enquirer. 

THE CHILD'S OWN STORY BOOK 5 

Or, Tales and Dialogues for the Nursery. By Mrs. Jerram, (late Jane 
Elizabeth Holmes.) Illustrated with numerous Engravings. Elegantly 
bound, with gold stamp on side. Price 50 cents 

Author's Preface.— In writing the following pages, my most earnest 
desire has been to awaken in the hearts of little children, kindly and affec- 
tionate feelings towards each other, submission and loving confidence to- 
wards their parents, and reverence and love towards God. This I have 
attempted in describing scenes and objects most of which must be familiar 
to every child. The language I have used is the easiest I could command, 
bo that a child of three years old may understand it. 

VERY LITTLE TALES, 

For very Little Children. In single syllables of three and four letters. 
From the sixth London edition ; illustrated with numerous engravings. 
Elegantly bound in cloth. Price 37 1-2 cents. 

The type of this little volume is quite a curiosity, it is so large. 
"The suitableness of this little work to its object, is proved by the fact 
that the first edition went off within three weeks from the day of its publica- 
tion, and that a fourth was required in a few months. It is designed for 
children who have just acquired the knowledge of their alphabet ; a period 
in jmvenile education which has been hitherto left without any provision of 
the kind "— Extract from Preface. 

LUCY AND ARTHUR; 

A Book for Children. Illustrated with numerous engravings, elegantly 
bound in cloth. Price 50 cents. 

Co if te mts.— I. The Nursery. II. The Little Black Pony. III. The 
Little Gardens. IV. The Day's Work. V. The Walk. VI. Mamma* 
Stories. VII. Papa's Stories. VIII. Sunday. 

" This is a book in advance of the " Very Little Taies," and intended far 
oMw tedf and miffs* , to whom ft will ckmdtteis prove a* aeeeptabfe gfcV 



14 D. Appleton Sf CoSs Catalogue of Valuable Works, 

MINIATURE CLASSICAL LIBRARY. 

This unique Library will comprise the best works of the best 
authors in prose and poetry ; published in an elegant form, 
with a beautiful frontispiece, tastefully ornamented. The 
following are now ready : 

GOLDSMITH.-— Essays on Various Subjects. By Oliver Gold- 
smith. 37t cents. 

GOLDSMITH .—The Vicar of Wakefield. By Oliver Gola^lth. 
371- cents. 

JOHNSON.— The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. 
A Tale. By Samuel Johnson, LL.D. 37i cents. 

COTTIN,— Elizabeth, or, the Exiles of Siberia. By Madame 
Gottin. The extensive popularity of this little Tale is well known. 31i cts. 

TOKEN OF REMEMBRANCE. 
TOKEN OF AFFECTION. 
TOKEN OF FRIENDSHIP. 
TOKEN OF THE HEART. 

Each volume consists of appropriate Poetical extracts from the principal 
writers of the day. 31i each. 

PURE GOLD FROM THE RIVERS OF WISDOM. A collection 
of short extracts on religious subjects from the older writers^Bishop Hall, 
Sherlock, Barrow, Paley, Jeremy Taylor, &c. 3U c*mts. 

ST. PIERRE.— Paul and Virginia. From the French of J. B. H 
/>e St. Pierre. 31i cents. 

H. MO RE'S Private Devottons. Complete. 3H cents. 

THE SEASONS— By James Thomson. 37i cents. 

GEMS FROM AMERICAN POETS.— 37* cents. 

CLARKE'S Scripture Promises. Complete. 37£ cents. 
'-*-*** These volumes will be followed by others of attested merit. 

1TinJ[ll ©AdJJ^KnPIIia© ®i? IKI^DLi^KIE) a Their Position in 
Society, Character, and Responsibilities. By Mrs. Ellis, author of " The 
Women of England." Complete in one handsome volume, 12mo. 50 cts 

ITHH WQ^[1§ ®F SKI^ILAKIIIDB Their relative Duties, Do 
mestic Influences and Social Obligations. By Mrs. Ellis, author of 
" The Women of England," " The Daughters of England." In one 
handsome volume, 12mo. 50 cents. 

ffWE W^K/fllM ®F HKI®lL^IKI®a Their Social Duties and 
Domestic Habits. By Mrs. Ellis. One handsome volume, 12mo. 50 cts. 

KIOKfltll l®^©^^©^ By Isaac Taylor, author of "Natural 
History of Enthusiasm," &c. &c. Second edition. 1 vol. 12mo. $100. 

••In this Tolume the general principles of Education, as applicable to private families and 
to small schools, are stated and explained ; such methods of treatment, especially, being sug- 
gested as are best suited to the circumstances of a country residence; at the same time, hints 
are offered of a kind to be available under any circumstances for carrying on the culture of 
those of the intellectual faculties that are the earliest developed, and on the due expansion oi 
which the force and efficiency of the mature mind depend" 

■*• A »ery enlightened, just, and Christian view of a most important subject" — American 
Biblical Repository. 

Mm^S^mm^ ®F KIDMAN B3©P®KI©DI3II[LII , ii , Y B 
JJy Francis Wayland, D.D. Second edition, 1 vo). ISmo., 

PHV©Q©A[L TKJgOGuV ®P AM^THEIS ILQFEa. By 

Isaac Taylor, author of Natural History of Enthusiasm." Third edition. 
1 vol. 12mo. 87£ cents. 



wne of the most learned and extraordinary works of modern times. 



